www.mexico-review.com SPECIAL EDITION January, 2012 Mexico City Vol. 01 No. 01 32 pages
0018920360242
Mexico 2012: A Year of Change, A Year of Renewal Presidential Politics An Early Look at a Historical Election
Remembering Leonora A Farewell to the Last of Mexico’s Surrealists
Magical Trips Nine Special Pueblos You’ll Want to Visit
PEOPLE : POLITICS : CULTURE : TRAVEL.
FROM MEXICO.
Totally Tri The National Soccer Team Has a World To Conquer IN ENGLISH.
CONTENTS MEXICO REVIEW January 2012 From the Publisher
Welcome to Mexico Review. BY ANA MARÍA SALAZAR
:2
www.mexico-review.com
They Said It
Quotable quotes by, for and about Mexico. :3
The Race for Los Pinos
Mexicans will be going to the polls on July 1 to elect a new president and Congress. It’s already shaping up as an intense three-way contest, and there’s even more to it than meets the eye.
Sing Me Back Home
Susana Harp mines Mexico’s musical riches ... and makes some pretty darn good songs come alive again. BY KELLY ARTHUR GARRETT
: LIFE & LEISURE : MUSIC : 16
The Indomitable Mare
: POLITICS : ELECTIONS : 4
A farewell to painter and sculptor Leonora Carrington, who left Mexico an unsurpassed surrealist legacy.
2012 Centennials
: LIFE & LEISURE : ART : 18
BY TOM BUCKLEY
Notable 100-, 150-, and 200-year anniversaries in Mexico didn’t stop after 2010. BY THE NUMBERS : 9
Crude Reality
Mexico’s national oil company is being pulled in two directions. Privatization is politically unpopular, but a more alliance-friendly structure, a la Brazil’s Petrobas, has strong support. The next step: a vigorous election-year debate. BY RON BUCHANAN
: ECONOMY & FINANCE : PEMEX : 10
The Art of Managing Uncertainties
Below-par growth is the most likely scenario for 2012. But then again, who knows? BY ROBERTO SALINAS-LEÓN
: ECONOMY & FINANCE : PEMEX : 13
More of the Same?
Nobody’s expecting a quick and dramatic turnaround in the security situation. But the drug war will be a campaign issue, and with a new president may come a new policy. BY MALCOLM BEITH
: SECURITY : WAR ON DRUGS : 14
BY KELLY ARTHUR GARRETT
Who We Lost
A beatnik journalist, a respected columnist, a worldclass opera composer, Pedro Infante’s best songwriter, a prizewinning novelist, a blogging poet, the premier Chiapas historian, an activist priest, a rocker and a jazz man were among those who passed on in 2011. LIFE & LEISURE : IN MEMORIAM ... : 22
Magic Tourism
Explorers of Mexico’s wonders can consider some new small town options in 2012, after the Tourism Secretariat named nine new Pueblos Mágicos in the last year. : LIFE & LEISURE : DESTINATIONS : 24
On the Horizon: The Road To Rio
Team Mexico is taking some momentum into 2012, with its sights set on the London Olympic Games and World Cup qualifying. BY TOM BUCKLEY
: LIFE & LEISURE : SPORTS : 28
Events
Major to-do’s in Mexico in 2012. : LIFE & LEISURE : EVENTS : 32
LETTER
they said it...
FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
LET THEM EAT CAKE
Welcome to Mexico Review! What might we expect in 2012? Some pundits say
next year could be boring, since likely PRI candidate Enrique Peña Nieto has held a steady lead in the polls. Something extraordinary would have to happen to stop him from becoming Mexico’s next president, they say.
“Consumers will feel restricted, or they’ll say ‘I don’t care what EDITORIAL
Oscar McKelligan PRESIDENT
Ana María Salazar VICE PRESIDENT & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Fernando Ortiz LEGAL ADVISER
Tom Buckley EDITOR IN CHIEF
Kelly Arthur Garrett MANAGING EDITOR
Andrea Sánchez EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Daniela Graniel ART DIRECTOR
What about the economy? Many analysts are betting on a stable recovery that will translate into growth and employment, along with a noticeable uptick in the tourism industry. Hopes are high that the final months of the Calderón administration will see a respite on the security front and the government strategy to reduce crime and violence in Mexico will finally produce positive results. After what we witnessed in 2011, it would be great if Mexico had a “boring” year with few surprises on the political and financial fronts and an improved security environment. Here at Mexico Review we are betting that 2012 will be full of surprises. And we want to be the place you go to when you need to understand what is happening in Mexico. Mexico can be difficult to understand, even if you are fluent in Spanish. For foreigners with political, business or family interests in Mexico, it can be virtually impossible to figure out what is going on here if you don’t speak Spanish. For this and many other reasons, Mexico Review was conceived. However Mexico Review is not just a magazine. The magazine is an integral part of a multimedia project featuring radio, Internet and television. We will strive to provide accurate news and analysis of the broad spectrum of politics, economy, lifestyle and culture in Mexico. Initially you will receive Mexico Review – free of charge – with your local newspaper. Soon enough, we hope you’ll want to subscribe to our home delivery service at suscriptions@mexico-review.com With such promise of a captivating 2012 in Mexico, can you afford not to read Mexico Review? Visit us at www.mexico-review.com. Ana María Salazar Executive Director anamaria.salazar@mexico-review.com
SALES
Verónica Guerra de Alberti CANCÚN REPRESENTATIVE
Abril de Aguinaco CABO REPRESENTATIVE
Iker Amaya Álvaro Sánchez U.S. REPRESENTATIVES
CONTRIBUTORS Malcolm Beith, Ron Buchanan, Roberto Salinas-León, Keith Dannemiller BOARD OF DIRECTORS Oscar McKelligan Ana María Salazar Yurek McKelligan Fernando Ortiz COVER
they tell me, I’m going to keep eating it because I like it.’” — LORENA CERDIÁN, director of a food industry advocacy alliance that includes Coca Cola, Nestlé and the Mexican baked goods giant Bimbo, expressing opposition to a Health Secretariat proposal to require warning labels on unhealthy foods.
IT’S ALL HOW YOU LOOK AT IT
[T]
HE PRI INSISTS MEXICO H A S A LWAYS BEEN A
DEMOCR ATIC COUNTRY, THE PA N CONSIDERS IT DEMOCR ATIC ONLY
“
BUT CAN WE KEEP THE COONSKIN CAP? “In the American popular imagination, John Wayne’s (David) Crockett blowing up the gunpowder supply has eclipsed Fess Parker’s Crockett dealing out blows with his rifle.” — Prolific author Paco Ignacio Taibo II in his new book on the Battle of the Alamo, subtitled “A History Unfit for Hollywood”
GEOGRAPHY UPDATE
‘Latin America’ no longer exists. Or it only exists insofar as literary, social, politi-
cal or artistic – never scientific – conferences are organized about it ... (And) the
majority of conferences about ‘Latin America’ take place outside Latin America.’
Shutterstock
SINCE THE YEAR 2000, AND THE PRD IS “Mexico Review” ES UNA PUBLICACIÓN QUINCENAL PROPIEDAD DE CELTA COMMUNICATIONS CORP. Y SU SUBSIDIARIA YUMAC S.A. DE C.V. CON OFICINAS EN AVENIDA DURANGO N O . 243-7 O PISO, COL. ROMA, DEL. CUAUHTÉMOC, C.P. 06700, TEL. 2455-5555 Y (949) 680-4336 EN CALIFORNIA USA, IMPRESA EN SPI SERVICIOS PROFESIONALES DE IMPRESIÓN, S.A. DE C.V., UBICADOS EN MIMOSAS N O . 31, COL. SANTA MAR Í A INSURGENTES, C.P. 06430, DEL. CUAUHTÉMOC, MÉXICO D.F.
CONVINCED THAT IT STILL ISN’T.” — Luis Rubio, political analyst and columnist, and
FECHA DE IMPRESI Ó N 16 DE DICIEMBRE DEL 2011. “Mexico Review” INVESTIGA SOBRE LA CALIDAD DE SUS ANUNCIANTES PERO NO SE RESPONSABILIZA CON LAS OFERTAS RELACIONADAS A LOS MISMOS. ATENCI Ó N A CLIENTES EN ZONA METROPOLITANA 5203-4943. LOS ART Í CULOS Y EL CONTENIDO EDITORIAL SON RESPONSABILIDAD DE SUS AUTORES Y NO REFLEJA NECESARIAMENTE EL PUNTO DE VISTA DE LA PUBLICACIÓN, NI DE LA EDITORIAL, TODOS LOS DERECHOS ESTAN RESERVADOS. PROHIBIDA LA REPRODUCCIÓN TOTAL O PARCIAL DE LAS IMAGENES, Y/O TEXTOS SIN AUTORIZACIÓN PREVIA Y POR ESCRITO DEL EDITOR. FOR ADVERTISEMENT CALL OR GO TO www.mexico-review.com. PLEASE ADDRESS ALL CORRESPONDENCE TO “Mexico Review” 26861 TRABUCO ROAD SUITE E217 MISSION VIEJO, CALIFORNIA 926913537 USA OR letters@mexico-review.com. PUBLISHED BY-WEEKLY BY CELTA COMMUNICATIONS CORP. AND ITS SUBSIDIARY YUMAC S.A. DE C.V. APPLICATION TO MAIL AT PERIODICALS IS PENDING AT MISSION VIEJO CALIFORNIA. SUBMISSIONS ARE WELCOME. ADDRESS THEM TO THE EDITOR AND INCLUDE A SELF-ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOPE. COPYRIGHT 2011. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. “Mexico Review” TRADEMARK IS PENDING.
president of CIDAC, an independent think tank in Mexico City.
”
— Jorge Volpi, author and former director of Canal 22, a Mexican public television channel, in an essay contending that the idea of Latin America, as defined by “dictators, guerrillas, soccer players and the rhetoric of magic realism,” is long dead.
GOING OUT GREEN
“When we talk about climate change, we often think about the costs of acting against it. But we think too little about the cost of not doing anything, which is many times higher, and even more rarely about the economic benefits that public sustainability policies offer.” — President Felipe Calderón
“W
Oh. Never Mind, Then ... hen Maya scripture began to be deciphered, with its references to the end of cycles, a facile interpretation was made from the perspective of occidental thought, connecting it with a vision of the end of the world.”
— Archaeologists Mario Aliphat and Rafael Cobos, along with researcher and Maya specialist Carlos Pallán, in a statement released by Mexico’s National Institute of Archaeology and History (INAH) debunking the so-called Mayan 2012 Prophecy.
@MexicoReview
2!MEXICOREVIEW : January, 2012
Mexico Review
January, 2012 : MEXICOREVIEW"3
E
POLITICS
ELECTIONS
lection fever is spreading rapidly yet the official campaign season doesn’t begin until March 30. Of course, such a clamor is to be expected when one presidential candidate has been on the stump for five years and another has been enjoying favorable (and controversial) TV exposure for nearly as long. In fact, it’d be a good sign if the voting public should be so engaged since the elections are pivotal for the advancement of Mexico’s gestating democracy. The long-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, was finally ousted from office in 2000 after 71 years in power. Since then, the conservative National Action Party, or PAN, has controlled the executive branch and its performance has failed to meet expectations. The economy has been sluggish, party politics has stagnated and considerable power has devolved to state governors. Now the PRI seems poised to retake Los Pinos and aims to win a majority in Congress. Perpetual infighting within the Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, and other leftist parties has produced high negative numbers in public opinion polls and the PAN has seen support dwindle thanks to two straight underachieving administrations. DEMOCRATIC RECESSION
Mexicans go to the polls on July 1 to elect a new president, an entire new Congress and a new Mexico City mayor. In addition, there will be local elections in 10 states as well as the Federal District. Also, five state governors will be elected in 2012. The presidential race will garner the lion’s share of attention, naturally, but the election processitselfandthebattlesforCongressand Mexico City deserve equal scrutiny. Voter apathy and organized crime are two primary issues that concern election officials and political analysts. Two recent studies have provided evidence of a disturbing trend among the electorate in Mexico. An annual survey by Latinobarómetro measures democracy in Latin America. The public opinion poll has been carried out since 1995 and the 2011 version suggests that democracy is losing favor among Mexicans. 4!MEXICOREVIEW : January, 2012
THE 2012 LINE-UP : July 1 Federal elections:
President 500 deputies (300 by direct election) 128 senators (96 by direct election) Federal District (mayor, 16 precinct chiefs, 66 assemblymen – 40 by direct election)
State elections:
THE RACE FOR LOS PINOS THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN is the headline competition in 2012, but the electoral process and party posturing will provide subject matter worthy of attention BY TOM BUCKLEY • PHOTO: KEITH DANNEMILLER
Andrés Manuel López Obrador has spent almost five years touring every municipality across the Republic.
Two key questions illustrate this conclusion. Mexico was last among 19 countries in terms of the response to the question: “In general, would you say you are satisfied or dissatisfied with how democracy is functioning in your country?” Nearly threequarters of those surveyed (73 percent) responded that they were “dissatisfied.” Only 23 percent said they were satisfied. When asked to decide from among three statements, 36 percent of Mexicans said it didn’t matter to them if Mexico was a democratic nation or not. Only 40 percent of Mexicans surveyed agreed with the statement “Democracy is the best form of government.” While
Guatemalans agreed to the tune of only 36 percent, Mexico’s status pales in comparison to other Latin American nations such as Peru (59 percent), Costa Rica (65 percent), Argentina (70 percent) and Uruguay (75 percent). In December, national employers’ confederation Coparmex published a survey that suggests nearly 60 percent of Mexicans are disenchanted with democracy. The conclusions indicate that rising crime rates were the No. 1 reason for the decline in public support for democracy. Sen. Diódoro Carrasco of the PAN responded to the Latinobarómetro poll by blaming politicians (but not the Senate). “It
seems to me that the main reason for this [crisis] is the autism demonstrated by the political class,” he said. “Corruption, the feudalistic attitude of governors … and the anti-reform stance of the Chamber of Deputies have helped make our democracy unproductive.” In addition, Congress failed to fill three vacant seats on the Federal Electoral Institute, or IFE, for 13 months. The IFE struggled to function short-handed, posing a serious handicap for IFE councilors as Election Day approached. The three seats were finally filled on Dec. 15.
DIRTY MONEY
IFE has been scrambling to win greater authority to audit campaign funding. IFE has also hosted two forums inviting international election experts to brainstorm about regulating money in politics. “Our mission and our commitment is to make sure that money that comes from illicit activities does not taint the election process,” said IFE president Leonardo Valdés in opening remarks at the second Foro de la Democracia Latinamericana. The November state elections
in Michoacán – a drug cartel hotbed – seem to illustrate how organized crime can influence the vote in Mexico. While campaigning for the PAN gubernatorial candidate, the mayor of La Piedad was gunned down by mobsters. The day before the election, a drug cartel ordered a La Piedad newspaper to print a letter warning supporters of the PAN to stay away from voting booths. In the aftermath, stories have circulated that hundreds of politicians either turned down candidacies or stopped campaigning due to threats from crime gangs.
Campeche: 11 mayors, 35 congressmen – 21 by direct election Colima: 10 mayors, 25 congressmen – 16 by direct election Guanajuato: 46 mayors, 36 congressmen – 22 by direct election Jalisco: 126 mayors, 40 congressmen – 20 by direct election State of Mexico: 125 mayors, 75 congressmen – 45 by direct election Morelos: 33 mayors, 30 congressmen – 18 by direct election Nuevo León: 51 mayors, 42 congressmen – 26 by direct election Querétaro: 18 mayors, 25 congressmen – 15 by direct election San Luis Potosí: 58 mayors, 27 congressmen – 15 by direct election Sonora: 72 mayors, 33 congressmen – 21 by direct election
Gubernatorial races: Guanajuato, Jalisco, Morelos, Chiapas, Tabasco
January, 2012 : MEXICOREVIEW"5
ELECTIONS
Ad Overkill
43,611,072
That is the number of political ads that the Federal Electoral Institute, or IFE, will bombard Mexican airwaves with from Dec. 18 through June 30. That’s not a misprint. More than 40 million election-related ads will be aired on television and radio across the country. That’s more than 222,505 campaign commercials per day! Current election law prohibits parties and candidates from buying political ads on TV or radio. All campaign-related commercials are arranged through IFE. The idea behind this section of the law was to limit the influence of money in campaigning. The total number of ads are assigned according to the number of votes each party earned in the 2009 federal elections. Of the 40 million-plus advertisements set to air in the current campaign cycle, 21,999,240 will be commercials for parties and their candidates, the remaining 21,611,832 will be IFE promotional spots.
An audiotape surfaced in which a capo bragged about funding the PRI. Two weeks after the election, President Calderón made a speech in which he said organized crime is putting democracy at risk. “We desperately need real democrats who recognize and act when they see criminals interfering [in elections],” he said. Interior Secretary Alejandro Poiré has proposed greater protection for election authorities and called for more vigilance in ensuring clean electoral processes. As far back as 2008, Guillermo Valdés, a top intelligence official, warned that it was not so far-fetched that drug money would find its way into the electoral process. Valdés was heavily criticized but the 2009 federal elections were marred by accusations of winning politicians being bankrolled by drug cartels. The PRI has interpreted the emphasis on this concern as a thinly veiled attack on the former ruling party, especially since there is broad support for the narrative that PRI governments at the state and federal levels have negotiated pacts with drug cartels. “These assertions and suppositions have never been substantiated,” said congressman Francisco Rojas. “Anybody who accuses or hints at the interjection of criminal elements into electoral processes should denounce it and provide evidence.” ABORTED PRIMARIES
In the 58 days from Dec. 18 through Feb. 15, the electorate will be exposed to 13,282,560 spots, with the bulk of the adverts being promotional material (8,301,168 ads to be specific). Candidate selection is scheduled for Feb. 16-22 and registration with IFE will take place from March 15-22. IFE formalizes the candidacies on March 29 and the official campaigns begin on March 30. No party or candidate ads will air between Feb. 16-March 29 (41 days), but 9,519,160 IFE promotional ads will feature. The 90 days of official campaigning (March 30-June 27) will feature 19,923,840 election ads and the overwhelming majority will be party and candidate ads (17,018,120 spots). In the final week prior to the election (June 28-July1), 885,504 IFE promotional spots will run.
6!MEXICOREVIEW : January, 2012
The presidential field has been narrowed to five competitors and two major parties have already settled on a candidate, effectively silencing themselves during the strictly regulated primary election season. Sen. Manlio Fabio Beltrones grudgingly retired from the PRI race when it became apparentthathisopponent,EnriquePeñaNieto, had firm control of the party apparatus. ThoughthePRIisdesperatetoprojectanimage of unity, Beltrones has not gone quietly. “Democracy could be strengthened by passing a law that bolsters party institutions so that party bosses can’t dominate and manipulate internal activities,” he said at the second IFE forum. Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard gracefully bowed out of the PRD race after barely losing an internal poll to Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Ebrard has won global recognition for his performance at the helm of the world’s second-largest city. The idea behind the poll was to avoid a bitter primary contest that might have
fractured the three-party leftist coalition. “A divided Left would fall off the cliff,” Ebrard said upon accepting the results of the polling. “I will never be the person who impedes a real chance to change the direction of our country.” While the PRI and the PRD must stay on the sidelines during the Dec. 18- Feb. 15 primary season, the PAN will be on center stage as three contenders wrestle for the party nomination. EARLY FRONTRUNNER
Enrique Peña Nieto, 45, ended his six-year term as the governor of the State of Mexico in September 2011. A fast-rising star in the PRI, Peña Nieto is a member of the infamous “Atlacomulco Group” that has exerted significant power in the state and in national politics since the 1940s, but has never occupied Los Pinos. Peña Nieto was born in Atlacomulco and he was preceded as governor by four men who were also linked to the group. A lawyer, Peña Nieto began his political career with important party posts in the early 1990s before leaping into state politics in 1993, serving in three administrations. He lasted one year (2003-04) of his three-year term as federal congressman before resigning his seat to run for governor. He won election on July 3, 2005, with 49 percent of the vote. Peña Nieto’s term was marred by a violent clash between protesters and authorities in San Salvador Atenco in May 2006 and by a controversial project to install a light-and-sound system at the Teotihuacan pyramids. The photogenic governor and his PR staff developed a cozy relationship with the Televisa network, staging frequent photo-ops and “media availabilities.” His appearances were polished and wellscripted. A widower at 39, his dashing good looks also led to regular inclusion in the society pages. This presence was multiplied when he began courting Televisa soap opera star Angélica Rivera. Their celebrity wedding in November 2010 received maximum exposure. Since then, Peña Nieto’s surge toward victory in 2012 had seemed unstoppable. LEFTIST ICON
Andrés Manuel López Obrador, 58, is a native of Tabasco who left the PRI in 1988 after having held several modest state and national positions.
Also known as AMLO, the charismatic politician joined the National Political Front headed by Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas and was the 1988 gubernatorial candidate for Tabasco. The Front evolved into the PRD in 1989. As the PRD candidate, López Obrador also lost the subsequent gubernatorial election in 1994 in a race broadly seen as fraudulent. López Obrador was elected president of the party in 1996 and his three-year term was a rousing success. He parlayed that into election as Mexico City mayor in 2000. Despite frequent spats with President Vicente Fox and an unsuccessful effort by the federal government to remove him as mayor on criminal charges and thus make him ineligible to run for the presidency, AMLO remained a popular political figure. Although he enjoyed a solid lead in the polls in the runup to the 2006 presidential election, López Obrador lost by roughly 0.5 percent. AMLO and his staff refused to accept the results and massive protests were staged, including the occupation of Paseo de la Reforma boulevard in the capital. He had himself declared “legitimate president” in November 2006. Since then, López Obrador has toured the nation extensively and organized the National Regeneration Movement, or Morena. This new organization is comprised of 4.12 million members who are represented by 2,217 municipal committees and 37,453 regional committees. Morena will man polls across the nation and its members will represent AMLO and PRD candidates as official Election Day observers. THREE-HEADED DEBATE
The PAN is the only party that will conduct a primary to select its presidential candidate. Three candidates are vying for the chance to represent the conservative party on July 1. Deputy Josefina Vázquez Mota, 51, has enjoyed a comfortable lead in the polls and could become the first female presidential candidate of a major party in Mexico’s history. Vázquez Mota served as the social development secretary during the Fox regime and was Felipe Calderón’s first education secretary before she resigned her post to run for Congress. Sen. Santiago Creel, 57, has struggled to build support for his campaign six years after he was stunned by the underdog Calderón in the party primary ahead of the 2006 election. Creel was a member of the IFE (1994-96) before winning a seat in the
COURTESY INSTITUTIONAL REVOLUTIONARY PARTY
POLITICS
Enrique Peña Nieto, left, shakes hands with Sen. Manlio Fabio Beltrones at a PRI National Council Meeting.
Chamber of Deputies (1997-99). He narrowly lost the 2000 Mexico City mayoral election to López Obrador but served as Fox’s interior secretary from 2000 to 2005. He resigned the top Cabinet post to seek the PAN presidential nomination and built a comfortable lead in the polls, but overlooked Calderón in the primary and he was handily beaten. Creel won a seat as senator in the 2006 election. Ernesto Cordero, 42, is seen as President Calderón’s choice as the party standard-bearer. Cordero is an economist who has filled two Cabinet posts during the current administration, first as head of the Social Development Secretariat for two years then as head of the Economy Secretariat for two years. Before that, Cordero twice served in departments that were headed by Calderón, including the Energy Secretariat. SOME ‘OOPS’ MOMENTS
Though official campaigning is months away, pundits are examining candidates’ public appearances with ruthless overefficiency. When Peña Nieto misspoke at the Guadalajara Book Fair (he misidentified a book by Carlos Fuentes), he was raked over the coals for weeks. Reforma headlined a story “Stumble causes crisis in Peña’s team” three days after the incident. “At first, we underestimated the impact and so we were late in responding,” said an unidentified campaign
consultant cited by Reforma. “We didn’t go into damage control mode soon enough.” Peña Nieto was characterized as dimwitted and unable to express ideas outside of scripted affairs. The author Fuentes also piled on: “Our nation’s problems require a president who can talk as an equal to Obama, Angela Merkel and Sarkozy and this man is not capable of that.” The PRI hopeful now faces extra scrutiny wherever he goes. In an interview with the Spanish newspaper El País, Peña Nieto was asked if he knew the price of tortillas. He said: “I’m not the woman of the house.” Within hours he and his team were deflecting charges of machismo. “I have the utmost respect for women and my remarks were taken out of context,” he posted on his twitter account. Peña Nieto blamed the opposition for orchestrating a smear campaign and trying to magnify the missteps. “It is human to be imprecise and there are bound to be more flubs.” In addition to the cracks in the veneer of invincibility that had surrounded Peña Nieto, the image of party unity appeared to be showing some cracks. Behind the scenes, members of the PRI rank-and-file have been grumbling about the concessions granted to its coalition partners, the Green Party and the teachers union-backed National Alliance Party. In an agreement pushed by Peña Nieto and former party president Humberto Moreira, the junior partners were granted January, 2012 : MEXICOREVIEW"7
POLITICS
ELECTIONS
2012 Centennials
several significant Senate and gubernatorial candidacies. After Moreira was forced out due to the massive public debt he left behind in Coahuila while governor, prominent PRI-istas whispered about changing the terms of the coalition. On Dec. 13, new party president Pedro Joaquín Coldwell announced that the PRI would re-examine its coalition deals in an effort to pacify the nascent insurrection. Any action reducing seats for either of the allied parties could severely damage the coalition.
In 2010, Mexico celebrated two major centennials – the Bicentennial of Independence and the Revolution Centennial. These observations really only marked the initiation of two critical historical movements that each continued for roughly a decade. Here, we take a look at events from both of these periods as well as the sesquicentennial of the beginning of the French Intervention.
COURTESY NATIONAL ACTION PARTY
Feb. 9-May 2
BACK-ROOM MACHINATIONS
On the left side of the political spectrum, factions within the PRD are pushing back against apparent efforts by López Obrador to impose candidates and veto others. AMLO and the PRD have been at odds frequently since the New Left faction won control of the party. The creation of Morena along with López Obrador’s favoritism for Labor Party and Convergencia candidates in recent elections is seen as a strategy to minimize the influence of the New Left. López Obrador largely kept the New Left out of his campaign staff and circumvented some of its key decision makers. The PRD has seen its presence in certain regions shrink to disturbing levels as continual infighting perpetuated the image of the party as a collection of rabble-rousers who can’t agree on policy or process. One growing concern is that the PRD could lose its stranglehold on Mexico City due to its self-destructive bent. Political columnist Carlos Ramírez hints that López Obrador has broken an unspoken deal with Ebrard that the mayor would be able to pick his successor in return for his gallantry in bowing out of ther presidential race. “López Obrador is playing puppet master by using the Labor Party to veto two of Ebrard’s favorites for mayor – Education Secretary Marcelo Delgado and Attorney General Miguel Ángel Mancera – by saying they are not genuinely leftist,” Ramírez wrote in his Dec. 8 “Indicador Político” column. Instead, AMLO seems determined to anoint a mayor himself, Ramírez opines. The story goes, therefore, that the Left will create an internal schism and leave open a path for congresswoman Beatriz Paredes to ride Peña Nieto’s coattails and retake City Hall for the PRI for the first time since 1997. AMLOisshieldinghisbehind-the-scenes maneuveringbypreachinganewmessagefor the general public. López Obrador knows he 8!MEXICOREVIEW : January, 2012
by the numbers
The PAN conducted debates online in December and kept followers informed via their Facebook account.
mustchangehisimageasanangryantagonist and win over key independent voters if he has hopes of moving into Los Pinos. As such, he is combating the antipathy by embracing the paradigm of a Loving Republic (República Amorosa). “[López Obrador] is promoting a more inclusive and moderate dialogue,” writes analyst Jorge Zepeda Patterson. “But is it a mistake to rely on quasi-religious language in order to demonstrate that he has moved to the political center?” Placardswiththeslogan“YoAMLOMexico” are reinforcing the new image. In some quarters, the new message is taking root. “Something is obviously happening as [López Obrador] has managed to win converts among business groups and former PAN-istas in Monterrey and Guadalajara,” reported Zepeda Patterson on Dec. 11. BLUE PARTY
The PAN will be center stage through February since its primary will afford it exclusive space on radio and TV. Candidates from parties that don’t hold primaries can’t run mass media campaign adverts nor can the parties promote their own platforms thusly. The three PAN aspirants have been pinballing within conservative circles, polishing their speeches and spouting their talking points. Each is eager to explain why they are the best-positioned to defeat Peña
Nieto and AMLO. They must first convince the blueblood PANistas of their conservative bonafides, while also deferentially voicing support for President Calderón. The consensus is that Cordero was anointed by Los Pinos, but his candidacy never gained a foothold. In mid-December, a key Cordero adviser – Mexico City’s Cuajimalpa borough chief Carlos Orvañanos – jumped ship and joined Vázquez Mota’s team. Vázquez Mota surged ahead in polls in September and has maintained a healthy lead for months now. Cordero and Vázquez Mota engaged in heated verbal jousting during web-based debates sponsored by the party, particularly about poverty and economic theory. Beginning in late December, the three can broadcast campaign spots and their debates can be televised. Expect exchanges to get testy, especially since internal unity is weakening. Several well-known PANistas with famous names – particularly in Nuevo León – have resigned their party membership and thrown support to López Obrador. Some of this has grown out of a regional rebellion against centralized selection of local candidates. The Federal Electoral Tribunal received 150 complaints about the PAN selection procedures in that northern state. All in all, the presidential election process is shaping up to be a fascinating study in political posturing and media evaluation.
Rebel leader José María Morelos survives the Siege of Cuautla led by Gen. Calleja to become the No. 1 enemy of Royalist forces battling the stillnascent Independence movement. The insurgents held out for 72 days. On May 2, Morelos and his lieutenants Hermenegildo Galeana and Mariano Matamoros led rebels through the Royalist lines. Gen. Calleja was removed as commander of Royalist forces and named military chief of Mexico City days later.
1812
Nov. 25
Morelos defeats Royalist forces defending Oaxaca City and establishes a base of operations there through the winter. As part of his victory celebrations, Morelos plants an ash tree (fresno) in front of the Iglesia de Guadalupe. The tree still survives at the northwest corner of Parque Benito Juarez El Llano. The victory significantly enhances Morelos’ military prestige and the rebels dominate southern Mexico through early 1813.
Jan. 6-8
The British, Spanish and French fleets land at Veracruz to exert pressure on the government of Benito Juárez to settle its debts. At the same time, Gen. Juan Nepomuceno Almonte (José María Morelos’ illegitimate son) and Monsignor Pelagio Antonio de Labastida visit Archduke Maximilian of Austria at his Miramar Palace in Trieste, Italy, as conservatives sought to recruit a European sovereign to replace the liberal Juárez as leader. Maximilian agrees in principle to become emperor of Mexico.
April 28
The French defeat Mexican troops at the battle of Las Cumbras in the mountains above Orizaba, Veracruz. The easy victory gives Gen. Lorencez confidence that his veterans of the Crimean War with an international reputation as the best army in the world will have little trouble conquering Mexico.
May 5
The French army suffers a humiliating defeat at the Battle of Puebla against Mexican forces commanded by Gen. Ignacio Zaragoza
.
Aug. 6
1862
The federal government institutes martial law in the state of Morelos as campesino leader Emiliano Zapata continues leading an agrarian revolution based on his Plan de Ayala of November 1911. This is the second declaration of martial law in Morelos in 1912, the first lasting from January through May. Gen. Felipe Ángeles is charged by Madero with subduing the Zapatista rebellion. Since April, Zapata’s forces had maintained a solid foothold in Tepoztlán, Jonacatepec, Tlaltizapán and Jojutla.
1912
Oct. 16
Gen. Félix Díaz (the nephew of former President Porfirio Díaz) rises up in rebellion against President Francisco I. Madero with a base of operations in Veracruz. The rebellion collapses unexpectedly a week later and Díaz is captured and court-martialed, then sent to Lecumberri Prison in Mexico City where he makes contact with Pascual Orozco and Gen. Bernardo Reyes. All three – along with Gen. Victoriano Huerta – would become leaders of the coup d’etat that unseated Madero in February 1913.
January, 2012 : MEXICOREVIEW"9
ECONOMY &FINANCE
PEMEX
Crude Reality
THE NATIONAL OIL COMPANY is being pulled in opposite directions as politicians resist privatization yet want Pemex to be more like state-owned entities such as Petrobras. BY RONALD BUCHANAN • PHOTOS: KEITH DANNEMILLER
10!MEXICOREVIEW : January, 2012
T
here are days when Juan José Suárez Coppel takes a rather gloomy view of Pemex and its problems. The state oil monopoly “is an inefficient company,” Suárez Coppel recently told an audience of students from the ITAM, the private university that serves as a production line for the government’s technocratic elite. Suárez Coppel should know about Pemex’s efficiency or lack thereof, because he is its chief executive. But a few days earlier he had put a much more positive spin on the outlook for the company when he met with senior business executives. Bipolarism?Ofcoursenot!Butlikealmost every other Mexican, Suárez Coppel does havemixedviewsaboutPemexanditsfuture. Certainly, his personal future as chief of Pemex is very much in doubt. There have been very few exceptions, but each new administration traditionally appoints a new Pemex chief. And, in most cases they change horses in mid-stream. On average, the last four six-year governments have had more than two Pemex chiefs. That comes to less than three years each in the post, a mere blink of the eye by the standards of most of the chiefs of the rest of the world’s oil industry. With such limited time, there is very little space for developing long-term goals, and international companies know that. The problem, and Suárez Coppel has said as much, is that Pemex is being pulled in two contradictory directions. Almost nobody in Mexico wants Pemex to be privatized, but many would like it to be a stateowned company like Brazil’s Petrobras, Norway’s Statoil or Colombia’s Ecopetrol. These are companies that form alliances with others in projects all over the world. With a wealth of experience to back them, they make substantial profits and their shares are traded in New York. Pemex has stayed largely the same for at least half a century. It is managed and financed like a government department whose head answers not to shareholders but to politicians. Just as in the construction of schools and hospitals, spending is strictly controlled. Combined with the Constitution’s strictures on the state’s monopoly of the ownership of oil and gas, Pemex lacks the funds and experience to tackle the nation’s oil challenges, much less those of the rest of the world. January, 2012 : MEXICOREVIEW"11
ECONOMY &FINANCE
PEMEX
The first indications from the 2012 presidential campaign are that the two views of Pemex – or possibly another, yet unforeseen – will be amply debated by the candidates. Yet there is an elephant in the room. Oil accounts for one-third of all the government’s income. That proportion would have to be radically reduced if Pemex were to be a new Petrobras or Statoil. Andithardlyseemslikelythatthepolitical class – the politicians themselves, their parties, the election apparatus and their chorus line in the media – is prepared to suffer hardship in order to achieve a new-look Pemex. Meanwhile, Pemex production – like the economy as a whole – is not so much stable as stuck. But that is good news after the drop of some 800,000 barrels per day of crude production between the 3.4 million barrels per day in 2004 to 2.6 million in 2009. Since then, crude production has stabilized at a little less than 2.6 million barrels per day. The reason for the sharp drop some years ago was the natural decline of the massive Cantarell field in the Campeche Sound, which peaked in 2004. Cantarell, once the world’s largest offshore oil field, used to provide almost 2.2 million of the nation’s 3.4 million daily production. Now it has dropped to just over 400,000 barrels per day. The ability of Pemex to develop other fields to compensate at least in part for such a huge decline merits the state company several brownie points. Yet more brownie points should be added for the relative stabilization of proven oil and natural gas reserves. These, and not the possible or potential reserves are what the world’s oil industry regards as the yardstick of a company’s assets. Last year, the proven reserves came to 13.8 billion barrels of crude and its equivalent in gas. That meant the relation between the proven reserves and production was very similar to that of many international companies. But there was a big difference. Other companies replenish all their proven reserves each year by adding new ones. Pemex’s proven reserves have been dwindling, and rapidly, since the beginning of the century. Pemex, of course, is at a disadvantage to the others. If Chevron or Shell needs to replenish their reserves they can do so by acquiring reserves in Angola, for example, from junior companies that have explored and developed them. 12!MEXICOREVIEW : January, 2012
The Art of Managing Uncertainties BY ROBERTO SALINAS-LEÓN
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It is as simple as that. But not for Pemex, which can develop reserves only by itself and only within Mexico. The low point was reached approximately 11 years ago when no new reserves at all were announced. Since then, matters have improved. By last year, Pemex had replenished its reserves to 86 percent of the previous year’s level. That was much better, but still not enough. This year, however, Pemex has pledged to replace 100 percent of its proven reserves. If so, more brownie points. Yet Pemex is much more than a producer and exporter of crude. Shale gas has revolutionized the U.S. natural gas industry, and Pemex has massive deposits, or so it seems. It has yet to prove any reserves, nor does it have any plans to develop them.
And what the oil industry calls downstream production, such as refining and petrochemicals, is desperately short of investment here. Currently, Mexico exports $4.8 billion a month of oil, the overwhelming majority of it crude. But it also imports $3.8 billion in gasoline and other products. So in net terms, oil earns Mexico $1 billion a month. That is certainly a lot of money, but it is very much less than what most people would imagine and certainly much less than what a real oil power – as Mexico claims to be – would expect. Big investments have been promised in refineries, pipelines and petrochemicals plants. But will they survive the change of administration? Watch this space ... if you dare!
he uncertainty facing Mexico’s short-term economic performance seems to have become a permanent phenomenon. But this is not merely an issue surrounding expectations of typical variables like inflation, the rate of exchange or the balance of trade. It is not, additionally, an issue arising out of the political struggles that characterize an electoral year. The principal uncertainty is a product of what happens outside – in the United States, in Europe, and in emerging market powerhouses like China and India. Such is the pattern since the perfect storm of 2008. The long term seems to have become … well, next week. It is extremely difficult to foster long-term investment commitments amid such a climate of global uncertainty. The verdict on the U.S. economy, which is such a determining factor in our external sector and investment climate, is still out there. And while signs of structural recovery have arisen (in particular, the rise in capital expenditures), financial volatility, high unemployment and the pains of the deleveraging process remain immediate and tangible threats. And, alas, 2012 is also a year of elections north of the border. The overwhelming sovereign debt overhang in the developed world countries and the prospect of a euro currency collapse has paralyzed global economic recovery – and produced financial contagion in world markets. This combination of external shocks (“exogenous” in the vernacular of economists) constitutes the fundamental threat to short-term economic performance in Mexico – and will continue to influence economic expectations well into 2012. Fortunately, our economy has bounced back nicely from the brutal collapse of growth in 2008. In particular, this is due to a solid fiscal position in public finances and a long-term expectation of low inflation in the future. So, independent of variations in the peso-dollar parity (which again saw swings ranging from as low as 11.50 to as high as 14.30 per dollar), macroeconomic stability seems to be here to stay. This presumption is also justified in 2012, despite fleeting ghosts of how the past presidential contests were accompanied by an exchange rate collapse. Indeed, the volatility of the currency parity has been a product not of monetary reasons, but of global market panics and manias affecting our system. Again, an uncertainty imported from abroad. The only certainty of exchange rate performance is, as a former central banker used to caution, that it will either go up or go down. Accurate forecasts are impossible in the face of such uncertainties. But whatever the case may be, the consensus seems to be that the parity should probably appreciate, especially if recovery remains robust. The expected rate of 3.7-percent growth – while well under par for what Mexico could accomplish – is not unreasonable given the challenges facing the global economy.
Still, it is unfortunate that such forecasts are met with a certain complacency by politicians – the main culprits, arguably, behind Mexico’s mediocre growth performance in the past two decades. The average growth rate in this timeframe has been 2.6 percent per annum; and in the Calderón administration, it has been lower still, registering an average growth of 1.47 percent per annum. We may appeal to factors such as the global financial crisis, the outcome of the influenza panic in 2007 and certainly the bloodshed that has defined the war against organized crime. Similarly, however, there is no doubt that party politics has sequestered the agenda of reforms required to generate high sustained growth in a state of structural paralysis. The tax system continues to impose high transaction costs. The proposed labor reforms, so needed to increase flexibility in such markets, were drowned in the exasperating to-and-fro of party politics. And significant pro-investment energy reform will likely have to wait until Mexico begins to import crude. Lack of imagination on the part of the executive branch in designing and selling reforms was yet another factor in this process of reform stagnation. In sum, political incentives for reform are in direct opposition to the growth imperatives that Mexico needs to follow. It is small wonder, therefore, that the ranks obtained in such rubrics as competitiveness or economic freedom are characteristically lame, with good marks on the macroeconomic front, but typically low marks in areas such as doing business or access to competitive markets or regulatory burdens. The new productivity index published by CIDAC, a well-known think tank, suggests that Mexico’s labor productivity today is similar to that of the U.K or France ... in the mid 1960s! In fact, accumulated productivity growth has registered 2.1 percent in the past two decades. Such a paltry figure contracts with our northern neighbor (35 percent), or with more comparable markets, such as South Korea (83 percent). As the saying goes, “por eso estamos como estamos.” Will this change in a year of presidential election? Almost certainly not. Yet, this is precisely the formula the Mexican economy needs to strengthen its internal market – create the right incentives for a much greater flow of productive investment. Such a trend, were it to happen, would also go a long way toward mitigating the myriad of uncertainties that have become a fact of life in discussions about the future of Mexico’s economy. In sum, 2012 will likely witness another episode of below-par growth, together with the volatility that is part and parcel of internal politics and deep global uncertainty. Or, as another folk saying goes, “lo más seguro es que quién sabe.” Roberto Salinas León is the president of the Mexico Business Forum in
Mexico City.
January, 2012 : MEXICOREVIEW"13
SECURITY
WAR ON DRUGS
being used to gather intelligence on drug traffickers. Operation Fast and Furious, no matter how flawed its execution, is evidence that U.S. authorities are making the Mexican situation a top priority. STEADY DRUMBEAT
The real question, of course, is what Washington will prescribe to fix the problem, in addition to the $1.5 billion in Mérida Initiative assistance. The war talk in Washington is certainly ratcheting up, and a new U.S. president might choose to take a harder line than Barack Obama has done. U.S.presidentialhopefulandcurrentTexas Gov. Rick Perry has openly said that Mexico’s war on organized crime “may require
our military.” After a visit by members of his team to Mexico City in September, U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Charles Jacoby urged for more cooperation between the two nations, especially regarding intelligence sharing. At a recent U.S. congressional hearing on the Mexican drug war, members of the U.S. House of Representativeswerewarnedabout“spiritualinsurgencies…nowtakingplacein Mexico.” “I never thought we would contemplate the day when ‘true believers’ from a Mexican cartel would start looking a lot like jihadists fighting for Al Qaeda – instead representing a perverted form of Christianity – but such a day appears very close at hand,” the members of the hearing were told. There is no doubt that a U.S. “invasion” is out of the question. U.S. Deputy Secretary
of State William J. Burns recently declared that any U.S. involvement in Mexico would be restrained. “There are clear limits to our role,” he told The New York Times. “Our role is not to conduct operations. It is not to engage in law enforcement activities. That is the role of the Mexican authorities. And that’s the way it should be.” But the banging of the war drums in Washington is a clear indication that the U.S. CongressistakingMexico’ssecuritysituation seriously, and U.S. officials will work to maintain the current strategy with whomever moves into Los Pinos in December 2012. Malcolm Beith is a freelance journalist and the
author of “The Last Narco: Inside the Hunt for El Chapo, the World’s Most Wanted Drug Lord.”
Spinning the Drug War
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More of the Same? THE WAR ON ORGANIZED CRIME begun by President Calderón in December 2006 will continue to produce shocking headlines in the coming year and the U.S. is taking notice.
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BY MALCOLM BEITH • PHOTOS: KEITH DANNEMILLER
here may be a new party in Los Pinos in 2012, but don’t expect too much to change on the security front. The current administration – and federal police chief Genaro García Luna – have publicly said that the drug-related violence is unlikely to abate for another seven years. They’re telling the truth. The violence plaguing swaths of Mexico –particularly in Tamaulipas, Ciudad Juárez and Sinaloa– cannot simply be stopped overnight. All of the current candidates for president –Enrique Peña Nieto (PRI), Andrés Manuel López Obrador (PRD), Josefina Vázquez Mota (PAN), Santiago Creel (PAN) 14!MEXICOREVIEW : January, 2012
and Ernesto Cordero (PAN)– have presented security platforms involving the Army’s withdrawal from the streets. Unfortunately, they’re unlikely to be able to accomplish such a move as quickly as they would like: if there’s one thing the last five years of turmoil during the Calderón administration have proved, it’s that the Army is absolutely necessary. EverytimetheArmyhasmovedintoacity or region to secure it and quell the violence, violence has been quantifiably reduced. But there are very few stories of long-term success, where the troops have moved on and peace remained. The local police are not yet strong enough to secure urban areas on their own. The crucial reforms to improve municipal forces and merge them with state police are still being debated in Congress.
U.S. ON STANDBY
At best, Mexico can hope for a decline in random shootouts (in which innocent bystanders have been caught in the crossfire) and fewer massacres of the sort occurring in Tamaulipas and Durango, as federal and local police gradually impose more control and reassert themselves in these regions. Cartel against cartel violence will almost definitely continue. It’s not even clear at this point whether a government-sponsored “pact” with the most powerful organization –the Sinaloa cartel– would even serve to diminish the gang rivalries, due to the independent, fluid manner in which the cartel bosses run their operations. What Mexico can expect is more U.S. involvement, not less. Already, drones are
peculation about a “June surprise” is not unheard of. The suspicion that the Calderón administration and the U.S. government might team up for a splashy arrest ahead of the July 1 elections is a familiar plot line in the blogosphere. The government begins its sixth year in an Army-led war on organized crime and regularly deals with “body counts” and accusations of rights violations as a result. Officialscontrasttheshockingnumbers withconspicuousapprehensionsandoften trytospinfavorableinterpretations.Theefforttodownplayorrationalizetherealityon the ground is aimed at protecting key sectors of the economy, most notably foreign investment and tourism.
prompted foreign governments to issue travel warnings about the violence in Mexico City and 20 of the 31 states. The Tourism Secretariat criticized the diplomatic advisories, saying they were based on analysis that “lacked objectivity and relied on questionable methodology.” A Central Bank study released in late November indicates tourism to Mexico was down 13 percent since 2006. In November, the government assured Human Rights Watch that Mexico “is not at war.” Top officials insisted “the fight against crime is being carried out with strict observance of the law” and is aimed at “re-establishing the rule of law and guaranteeing liberty to all residents.” HRW had criticized the “war on drugs,” saying it had generated “a dramatic
increase in the number of murders, accusations of torture and abuse of authority by public security agencies that only serve to aggravate the climate of … fear that permeates the country.” ThegovernmentannouncedinlateNovember that authorities had arrested eight top Zetas leaders since July. On Dec. 1, Milenio reported that drug-related murders in November (756 slain) had declined by half since April (1,402 dead). The newspaper also reported that 11,379 deaths during the first 11 months of 2011 were attributed to the crime-related violence, a total of 46,064 since the beginning of the Calderón administration.TheArmyreportedthatits actions had become more “surgical,” as 68 percent of the cartel suspects it had killed since 2006 occurred in 2011.
RECENT HEADLINES:
Stratfor’s latest intelligence update indicates the three primary conflicts in the war on drugs are cartel vs. cartel, cartel vs. government and cartel vs. civilians. In early December, the U.S. State Department confirmed that Mexico is spending $13 for every $1 the U.S. government is providing via the Mérida Initiative. The U.S. government also explained that Mérida’s funding focus was now “directed at strengthening democratic institutions… moving away from just supplying military equipment and technology.” Rising crime rates through November
January, 2012 : MEXICOREVIEW"15
life& leisure
MUSIC
Archives, and ultimately the Inquisition itself, that provided the lyrics to two songs on the album — “El Puente de San Francisco” and “El Chuchumbé.” It was mandatory in colonial times to denounce to Church authorities any “provocative” or “dishonest” songs, a musical category that seems to have included an extensive selection of compositions about randy priests. The ecclesiastical prurience was disguised by double-entendre lyrics, but not very much. It turns out, though, that in the process of prosecuting the lyrics, the Inquisition succeeded in preserving them in the public record, just waiting for the Susana Harps of the world to find and revive them centuries later. Instead of printing the lyrics to “El Chuchumbé” in the Mexicanísima” booklet, Harp reproduces the Inquisition document that contains them. “I was tempted to do an entire album of songs banned by the Inquisition,” Harp said. “I found a lot of delightful ones. Maybe that’s a project for the future.” SANDUNGA FOREVERMORE
Sing Me Back Home SUSANA HARP IS TAKING traditional and ethnic Mexican songs out of the archives and onto iPods. BY KELLY ARTHUR GARRETT
few days before the 101st anniversary of the Mexican Revolution last November, a Zapata impersonator and two women dressed as soldaderas — fake bullet shoulder straps, toy rifles, serious expressions — guarded the entrance of the Corazón de Maguey mezcal bar on one of the twin main plazas in Mexico City’s arty Coyoacán area. Inside, Susana Harp, the 43-year-old, mixed-descent Oaxaca-born interpreter and popularizer of traditional Mexican song, was in a good mood. She chatted about her new and ninth CD, “Mexicanísima,” an unusual collection of 19 mostly little-known pieces that span Mexican history from the pre-Columbian to the mid20th century. “There’s nothing commercial about it,” she confessed, proudly. “It’s more cultural. I’m very happy with it.” 16!MEXICOREVIEW : January, 2012
Harp would be giving two concerts that week to introduce the album. Neither would take place in any site like the Auditorio Nacional, the 10,000-seat prestige venue that would be filled a week later by Lila Downs (the other, more famous, 43-year-old mixeddescent Oaxaca-born interpreter and popularizer of traditional Mexican song). Instead, Harp would be singing in the plaza, pretty much right outside the mezcal bar’s doors, as part of the Coyoacán borough’s Revolution Day celebrations. This is Harp in her element; there’s a clear community bent to just about everything she does, including her choiceofmusic. You’reaslikelytoseeherperform at a plaza party as in a formal concert. Or in a document warehouse. As she spoke, final preparations were under way for a concert she was to give the next day in the National Archives building on the east
side of Mexico City. Rare is the professional singer who would walk into such a place, let alone consider it as a performance venue. Harp, who researches her music before she records it, is right at home there. “I’m thankful that they let me in,” she said. “It’s amazing to be in the bowels of that building, looking for lost verses, old photographs, decrees from the Inquisition. You can really feel the energy of the place.” The building’s appeal is mitigated, or perhaps enhanced, by its use as a notorious prison from 1900-1976, the infamous Black Palace of Lecumberri. “It has a gloomy history,” Harp said of Lecumberri. “But we’re going to cheer it up.” Harp cites the National Archives, using footnote format, in the 24-page booklet of explanatory text and printed lyrics that accompanies “Mexicanísima.” It was the
Harp was born in the city of Oaxaca. Her father was Lebanese but came to Oaxaca at age 5. She was taken by Oaxacan folk traditions once she discovered them, and she loved to sing as a girl, but she pursued a degree in psychology and moved to Mexico City for further studies. All the while, though, she continued to explore songs and singing. In 1996, she recorded “Xquenda,” an album that included selections in Mixteca and Zapoteca, the indigenous languages of Oaxaca. It was groundbreaking both for Harp and the budding movement to get traditional and indigenous Mexican songs out of the halls of academe and the museum gifts shops (and the National Archives) and into the modern public imagination. “Xquenda” was as much a project as a CD. It led directly to another Xquenda, a cultural association Harp founded to research and rescue Mexico’s abundant ethnic music, and find ways for people to play and sing it so others can hear it. The Asociación Cultural Xquenda supported, for example, the recording in 1999 of “Sandunga,” Lila Downs’ first album. All of Susana Harp’s CDs are thematic. With the exception of “Ahora” (2005), in which she interprets 14 tunes from more or less mainstream contemporary composers such as David Haro and Rafael Mendoza, they all involve traditional, historical or Mexican ethnic music. So they’re all “projects,” and they all require research. “I consult with specialists — ethnomusicologists, historians, knowledgeable musicians,” she said. “Virtue isn’t knowing everything; it’s knowing who knows. And who’ll share.” She is convinced — and the results bear her out — that the project aspect of her albums contributes to the difference between a Susana Harp album and just another collection of Mexican folk songs. The context
and understanding that the background work gives her turns a pleasant collection of tunes into something more enriching, and more enjoyable. This is especially true of “Mexicanísima,” the most “historical” of her releases. ”The idea,” she said, “is to go beyond 19 pretty little songs.” Right about now is probably a good time to stop and assure readers that listening to a Susana Harp CD is not a mentally taxing exercise in plodding anthropology. You’re not in a classroom. The research is a means; the end is a rewarding musical experience. The songs are good, not just historically interesting. They can touch you the way any good song can. Besides, no law says an album can’t be edifying and satisfying at the same time. Harp’s voice is sweet and high; you can hear her smiling as she sings. She has nowhere near the range and power of Downs, and she avoids the emotional displays that are common in the genre and always seem too obviously manufactured (unless Chavela Vargas is doing it). Harp focuses on clarity, letting the song itself provide the impact. Much of what makes Harp Harp (and Downs Downs) is embodied in the public domain song “La Sandunga.” Downs’ 1999 version is haunting, musically inventive, almost perfect. It helped make her a star. Harp recorded the same song three years later in a collection of traditional pieces called “Mi Tierra,” performing it with the State of Oaxaca Symphonic Band, a horn-dominated ensemble that plays plazastyle arrangements. So you have Downs accompanied by a jazzy piano, and Harp with wind instruments racing around the lyrics like mice in waltz time. One version is mournful, the other uplifting. Interestingly, not a single line in the “Mi Tierra” version matches the lyrics in Downs’. Harp explains in the liner notes that when the song, a Spanish import, found its way to Oaxaca, it became subject to a process of revisions and additions that continues to this day. And in classic Harpian fashion, she also tells us the exact date and location of the song’s first performance in Mexico (Dec. 3, 1850, in a theater on Bolivar Street in Mexico City). Harp re-recorded “La Sandunga” for “Mexicanísima,” using the more popular lyrics that Downs used, which are credited to Máximo Ramón Ortiz, a 19th century composer and politician. It’s not hard to see why the song can evoke different moods. On the one hand it’s an anthem of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, honoring its women, and uniting the population. On the other, the most commonly used lyrics refer to the death of the singer’s mother. Harp said she’s about halfway finished with her next project. After seven albums celebrating Mexico multicultural population, this one will be about its biodiversity. People give way to plants and animals. “Our megadiversity is a source of pride, but also a great responsibility,” she said. “We still have a lot of history to sing.”
1997
2002
2008
2010
2011
Nine “Projects” Susana Harp’s releases include “Xquenda,” her first album; “Mi Tierra” and “Mi Tierra 2,” with the State of Oaxaca Symphonic Band; “Fandangos de Ébano,” featuring Afromexican music; and “Mexicanísima,” her latest release. Not pictured are “Béele Crúu” (2000), “Arriba del Cielo” (2003), “De Jolgorios y Velorios” (2009) and “Ahora” (2005).
January, 2012 : MEXICOREVIEW"17
A
t the time of her death last May 25 in Mexico City at age 94, Leonora Carrington, the last great Mexican surrealist artist, was a subject in a remarkable exposition at the Museo de Arte Moderno featuring “Remedios Varo and Her Contemporaries.” The show brought together the pantheon of immigrant surrealists who lived and worked in Mexico —Carrington (from England), Varo (Spain), Alice Rahon (France) and Kati Horna (Hungary). With Carrington’s passing, the last star in that constellation flickers out, but the light those women shone over Mexico will live on in their now universally admired paintings and sculptures. Leonora Carrington did not go gentle. Weeks before her passing, she was there at the opening of an exhibition of her recent sculptures at the Indianilla Station Cultural Center in the decidedly non-posh Doctores area of the capital. Two years earlier, she cut the ribbon to open the annual art fair at Mexico City’s then-121-year-old American School, which featured her art — giant bronze scuptures placed around the campus and new works in the gallery — and that of her sons Gabriel and Pablo Weisz-Carrington. Her work is familiar to Mexico City residents. Carrington sculptures animate Paseo de la Reforma, one of the few pedestrian-friendly boulevards in the city. Some are permanent fixtures, such as the huge crocodile-themed work she donated to the city after being named a “Distinguished Resident.” Conaculta, Mexico’s national arts council, paid homage to her after her death with a special display of 18 of her works at the Palacio de Bellas Artes, the nation’s premier cultural venue. That’s a high honor for any artist, especially a foreign-born one. 18!MEXICOREVIEW : January, 2012
COURTESY FREY NORTON GALLERY, SAN FRANCISCO
ART
The Indomitable Mare LEONORA CARRINGTON was English-born and Irish-influenced, schooled in surrealism by a German and married to a Hungarian. In the end, though, she was Mexican. BY KELLY ARTHUR GARRETT
The late-life activity and posthumous honors tell us a few things about Carrington not much emphasized in coverage outside Mexico. One, obviously, is the impressive energy of an artist in her 90s who not only shows up at openings, but shows up at openings of her recent work. The other is Carrington’s role as an artist of Mexico, as a national treasure in a nation teeming with them, as a huge contributor to the country’s cultural stockpile. Such a local legacy is a given, one would think,
after nearly six decades as a resident. Yet the eulogies written outside the country seemed to emphasize (rightly) her art and (narrowly) her dramatic early adulthood, before trailing off into some variation of “... and she spent the rest of her life in Mexico.” FROM JANE TO ELENA
But it’s hard to blame a chronicler for privileging Carrington’s European youth over
her productive Mexican years. Her art, after all, is vision-inspired and dream-like, with none of the sense of place as in her older, semi-surrealist contemporaries María Izquierdo and Frida Kahlo. As far as her art is concerned, it doesn’t matter where she lived. And, it must be said, her pre-Mexico life really is irresistable as melodrama. Her childhood was straight out of Jane Austen, her coming of age straight out of “Casablanca” and her introduction to the
New World straight out of ... well, straight out of Elena Poniatowska, the venerated French-born Mexican journalist and author whose fictionalized biography “Leonora” appeared just before its subject’s death. Poniatowska tells of the daughter of an industrial titan growing up in a Lancashire mansion almost too perfectly named Crookhey Hall, where she spent more time with her beloved Irish nanny than her parents. It was this nanny, Mary Poppins-like, who introduced Leonora to the sidhes and
COURTESY AMERICAN SCHOOL FOUNDATION
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When the English art patron Edward James first saw Carrington’s 1947 work “The Giantess” (above) he was convinced it was a masterpiece. More than 60 years later, it sold for $1.5 million, a rare figure for a living female artist. At left, Gabriel Weisz-Carrington and his mother examine their works at the 2009 ASF Art Fair at the American School in Mexico City.
other magical beings of Gaelic mythology, which turned out to be as much religion as she would need in life (“I’m an artist,” she later said, “My only faith is in creation.”). She was rebellious, iconoclastic and stubborn. Her parents sent her to convents and finishing schools and she’d promptly get herself kicked out. She was presented before King George V and was singularly unimpressed by the experience. It is said she took an Aldous Huxley book with her to pass the time at the royal proceedings. “Indomitable” is a word often used by admirers in her adult life. It applied to her childhood personality as well. Her identification with animals, especially horses, was no mere childlike whim. She didn’t think of herself as being sympathetically equine-like. She was a horse. “I am a horse disguised as a girl,” she told her parents, and, much to their horror, she meant it. January, 2012 : MEXICOREVIEW"19
ART
COURTESY FREY NORTON GALLERY, SAN FRANCISCO
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“Tuesday” (1987) dates from the same year that Carrington published “The Seventh Horse and Other Tales,” a collection of her short fiction.
Later, when Leonora was pregnant with her first child and wondering aloud about what she was getting into, her friend Remedios Varo tried to reassure her by pointing out that she, Leonora, was once a girl herself. “No,” she corrected, “I was a pony, then a filly and now I’m a mare.” In a more recent newspaper interview, she said, “What I always loved about horses is the way they can move a little piece of their skin to scare off flies, just a tiny piece. I oftentriedtodothismyself,butInevercould.” That kind of close observation and her fantastical renderings of horses in oil and bronze may seem opposite — the scientific versus the magical. But they are really two sides of the same coin; you have to really know horses to do either. One sculpture displayed at the American Schoolhadahorsesetonapole,withexaggeratedly sharp and elongated toes on the front hooves, and back hooves like shark fins. The short tail curled back on itself like a scorpion and it was large enough to make us think of a strange second head that was observing the more traditional one in the front. Somebody turned the sculpture around during the course of the fair that day, as though to emphasize the dual sense of direction. STRANGE NEW WORLD
Carrington’s father discouraged her artistic ambitions, but she managed to study 20!MEXICOREVIEW : January, 2012
art in London. She had already developed an appreciation for the still young surrealist movement, and especially admired the German surrealist Max Ernst. A school roommate named Ursula Goldfinger arranged for the two to meet. Some young artists get to shake hands with their hero; Leonora ended up living with hers. Through Ernst (born 1891), Carrington (1917) plunged into the European art world, circulating among the surrealists in London and Paris. Among other things, they supplied her with epigrammatic descriptions of her chosen school of art. “The strongest surrealist image is one that reaches the highest level of arbitrariness,” counseled Ernst. “It’s the one that’s hardest to translate into practical language.” And this from Lee Miller, the American model and photographer, disciple of Man Ray: “Madness opens the doors to your interior. To commit acts that others condemn lifts you to another dimension, lets you leap over your own mediocrity.” Carrington credited Ernst for her artistic education, but had a few lessons of her own for him and his friends, few of whom are particularly remembered for enlightened attitudes about women. “All that deifying of women is pure fiction,” Poniatowska has her saying to him. “I’ve seen how you surrealists use them like any other wife. You call them your muses but they end up cleaning your toilets and making your beds.”
Things fell apart. Ernst was arrested twice — first by the French for being German, then, during the occupation, by the Germans themselves. Leonora suffered mental collapses, and her father arranged to have her committed to a Spanish asylum. (Later, in Mexico, she would write “Down Under,” a memoir of that gruesome episode; she also wrote novels and short stories.) She escaped, and with the help of Renato Leduc, a Mexican poet and journalist who worked as a diplomat in Spain, she reached New York. Leduc, with whom she had entered into a short-lived marriage of convenience, talked her into coming with him to Mexico. “There’s no snobbism there,” he told her in Poniatowska’s rendering. “We’re hungry in every sense of the word.” Mexico in 1942 was both a producer of and magnet for the world’s great surrealists —Bretón, Buñuel, Mondrian and Artaud among them. Carrington moved among them, but was slow to warm to Mexico. She wasn’t taken in by its icons of culture. She was digusted by the bullfights, hated the rodeos and charro events (“the way they throw down the horses”), considered Mexico City’s famous Sonora Market, known for its exotic flora and fauna offerings, “diabolical.” Orozco was a “horror.” She avoided Rivera and Kahlo and their Casa Azul crowd — repelled by their noise, their tequila and their guns. “I think smoking is the only thing we have in common,” Poniatowska has her saying. It didn’t help that she knew little Spanish at first, her French and English having previously been enough to get by with most of the crowd she ran with. She was also broke, cut off by her father. She did enjoy riding horses along Paseo de la Reforma and on into wooded Chapultepec Park, something you could still do in those days. Another thing you could do in those less-crowded times was run into an old friend unexpectedly on a residential street. That happened with Carrington and Remedios Varo, and led to a long friendship that included mutual exploration of the occult. She traveled through Chiapas to research the Mayas for a commissioned mural. As it has done for so many others, Poniatowska hints, Chiapas won Leonora over to Mexico. She met and married the Hungarian photographer Imre Emerico Weisz, a friend of
Carrington left this crocodile sculpture to the people of Mexico City. It’s a permanent fixture on Paseo de la Reforma.
Picasso’s whose harrowing wartime refugee route to Mexico, through Lisbon via Casablanca,remindedherthatherownwoeswere of the rich girl’s variety. The two children followed,andCarringtonpainted,asPoniatowska puts it, “between sleepless nights, diapers and pediatrician appointments.” THE SURREALIST FAIR
The most important man in Carrington’s life was probably Edward James, the British railroad heir, surrealist art patron, sometimes poet, and mildly eccentric lover of Mexico. Poniatowska tells the story of how James first wandered on foot into the tiny town of Xilitla in the state of San Luis Potosi, his body wrapped in toilet paper to fend off the cold. His arrival as a walking mummy was not the oddest sight he’d give the townspeople. Over the years, he constructed there a surrealist Xanadu of bizarre sculptures, unusual plants and offbeat structures, today open to the public in blissfully shoddy and unsanitized condition. It is also the site
for the last two years of something called the Surrealist Fair. James adored Carrington’s work, and took over as her benefactor, adding her to a list that included Dalí and Magritte. He bought her pieces and arranged showings, including a breakout exhibition at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York in 1947. Barely 30, she was now a major international artist. In return, she and her family had to put up with James’ exotic birds and snakes when he stayed at their apartment in Mexico City’s Roma neighborhood. It’s not hard to see the appeal in her art. A biographer, the art historian Whitney Chadwick, describes it as the mystical occupying spaceintheeverydayworld.Putanotherway, Carrington gives us images that are at once phantasmagoricandsomehowfamiliar.They descend,onesuspects,fromtheother-wordly beings of her Irish nanny’s Irish tales. “I don’t consider myself a surrealist,” Poniatowska has Carrington saying. “I have fantastic visions and I paint them and write about them. I paint and write what I see, that’s all.”
“The
strongest surrealist image is one that reaches the highest level of arbitrariness.” —Max Ernst
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IN MEMORIAM ...
Who We Lost
MEXICAN ARTS AND LETTERS enter 2012 without some major figures in art, music, literature, journalism and religion who passed on in 2011. Some, like Leonora Carrington, were born abroad. Some spent their final days outside Mexico. But all made major impacts in their chosen fields, and all leave the national spirit richer for having lived here.
They Came, They Stayed TOMÁS SEGOVIA (1927-2011)
He belonged to Spain’s greatest generation, emigrating to Mexico in the 1930s along with so many other writers and scholars who fled Franco and ended up invigorating the culture of the nation that took them in. Segovia — author, essayist and most of all a poet — became a fixture in the Café Chufas, a Spanish exile favorite near the Alameda in downtown Mexico City, where he scribbled his diary. The restaurant didn’t survive the 1985 quake, and the bulk of his diaries didn’t survive a Washington D.C. thief. (“Perhaps they’ll turn up at an auction some day,” muses José Emilio Pacheco, Mexican literature’s eminence grise and a fervent admirer of Segovia.) But the final volume (1985-2011) is viewable on the Internet, a medium through which Segovia continued to blog until his death. MICHEL DESCOMBEY (1930-2011)
Michel Descombey performed dance in his native France and then revolutionized it in Mexico. After participating in cultural events related to the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, he became a full-time Mexican resident in the 1970s and for the next three decades created and choreographed many of the most important dance works in Mexico. But his main effort and contribution was the founding of the Ballet Teatro del Espacio, the dance company that served as the focal point of Mexico’s homegrown ballet productions until federal cultural authorities pulled its funding in 2009. JAN DE VOS (1936-2011)
He literally wrote the book on Chiapas; his three-volume history of the peoples of the Lacandón forest chronicles their relentless exploitation in scholarly detail. More accessible to the lay reader is his booklet on the life of a curious 16th century Jesuit missionary named Fray Pedro Lorenzo, who came to Chiapas with the naive idea that the Spanish were there to save Maya souls and then clear out. The good friar, like the people he came to Christianize, soon found himself on the run from Church authorities. Four centuries later, De Vos, a Jesuit priest turned historian, arrived in Chiapas in his mid-30s from his native Belgium and had his own falling out with the order’s authorities. He spent the rest of his life as part of the history he wrote, serving as an adviser in talks between the Zapatista rebels and the government, and pulling off the difficult feat of advocating for the indigenous without jeopardizing his academic credibility. JOHN ROSS (1938-2011)
Rabblerousing reporter, political activist, jazz-lover, beat generation hold-out and “investigative poet,” the New York-born Ross took up permanent residence at Mexico City’s marvelously seedy Hotel Isabela after the 1985 earthquake, and spent the next quarter century sending northward torrents of sharp-edged journalism. His reporting was no less objective than other English-language journalists in Mexico, just less subtle about it, and also far more in touch with Mexico’s displaced and dissatisfied. Ross seldom met social upheaval he didn’t love or an anti-U.S. sentiment he didn’t endorse. And it’s doubtful his hectoring style and lack of nuance in separating good guys from bad guys changed many minds. But his hard-earned insights published in The Nation and other U.S. outlets, along with books such as “The Annexation of Mexico” and “Zapatistas!,” served as a salutary antidote to the assumption-burdened superficialities that too-often pass for reporting out of Mexico.
Men of Their Words
MIGUEL ÁNGEL GRANADOS CHAPA (1941-2011)
He was by all accounts the dean of Mexican journalism right up to the publication of his final “Plaza Pública” column in the daily newspaper Reforma days before his death. He criticized and he proposed and he sometimes got involved in politics, but he mostly explained. He was there at the beginning, starting out at the weekly Crucero, run by the legendary Manuel Buendía, who was later the victim of a political assassination and the subject of one of Granados Chapa’s numerous books. He was among the all-star roster of journalists who bolted Excelsior in the 1970s when the thencritical daily was gutted by President Luis Echeverría. (The move eventually backfired in that it led to the founding of several more-critical publications that Granados Chapa was involved with.) In perhaps the highest honor a journalist could receive, his columns were devoured by other journalists, and for good reason: He understood what was going on better than they did. He was a master researcher, but not above camping out in the reporters’ bullpen with the rest of the media during sessions of Congress. The writings and papers he leaves behind will be a treasure for generations to come, but his most valuable research sources, his mind and memory, he has taken with him. DANIEL SADA (1953-2011)
The Tijuana-born and Coahuila-raised Sada, author of novels (such as “Casi nunca,” “Lampa vida,” “Albedrío” and “Una de dos”) and short stories, was a writer’s writer par excellence, which means he was admired more by his colleagues for the musicality and preciseness of his prose than he was read by the population at large. Anointed early on by Carlos Fuentes as “a revelation for world literature” and praised by Roberto Bolaño, Sada was named co-recipient of Mexico’s highly prestigious 2011 National Arts and Science Award in the Linguistics and Literature category just hours before his death. Heavily sedated at the time, he never received official news of the award, but he apparently had been tipped off weeks in advance by friends to whom the results had leaked.
The Music Fades
MANUEL ESPERÓN (1911-2011)
A film scorer and master of melody, Manuel Esperón was one of those songwriters who insinuated himself into the national psyche. The background music he wrote is the background music for all Mexicans, and perhaps a good percentage of non-Mexicans as well. He’ll forever be associated with the films of Mexico’s Golden Age of cinema, and with the songs he wrote for the voices of the stars of the 40s and 50s. That would include especially Pedro Infante, the gentleman macho whose version of Esperón’s “Amorcito Corazón” in the socially aware 1948 movie “Nostros los Pobres,” may be the best-loved — certainly the most familiar — tune of from 20th century Mexican film. He wasn’t often a lyricist; Pedro de Urdimalas, for example, wrote the words to “Amorcito Corazón.” But he worked closely with the greatest directors in Mexico, including, Emilio “El Indio” Fernández, Ismael Rodríguez and Luis Buñuel. American audiences got a taste of his magic on occasion, notably in Walt Disney’s “Los Tres Caballeros.” DANIEL CATÁN (1949-2011)
The Mexico City-born composer never saw performances of his signature work, an adaptation of the movie “Il Postino,” in his native country. They took place at the International Cervantino Festival in Guanajuato last fall, after his sudden and unexpected death in April. (The opera had first been staged in Los Angeles, with Plácido Domingo in the role of Pablo Neruda.) Of Russian and Jewish descent, and educated in the United States and England, Catán was something of a musical go-between in the United States and Mexico. He was a Mexican opera composer working in English in the United States, as well as the recipient of the first U.S. commission of a Spanish-language work, which became ‘’Florencia en el Amazonas’’ (1996). His first opera, “Encuentro en el ocaso,” used a libretto by Carlos Montemayor, the late Mexican author and essayist who moonlighted as an opera singer. At the time of his passing, Catán was at work on another opera adapted from a film, ‘’Meet John Doe.’’ EUGENIO TOUSSAINT (1954-2011)
He was a pianist, a jazz and chamber music composer, and a ubiquitous performer who was as much at home on the stages of the country’s most prestigious classical music venues as on television talk shows. His jazz group Sacbé was one of the most influential in Mexican jazz history. He also did plenty of work in the United States, collaborating with the likes of Herb Alpert and Paul Anka, among others. He is survived by his sister, the singer Cecilia Toussaint.
SAMUEL RUIZ (1924-2011)
They called him Tatik, the word for “father” in Tzeltal, one of the Maya languages that Ruiz learned to speak as he served in Chiapas as bishop of the Diocese of San Cristóbal since 1960. Ruiz, who founded the Fray Bartolomé de las Casas Center for Human Rights, was a passionate campaigner for the indigenous poor in Chiapas. His pursuit of Liberation Theology endeared him neither to Vatican authorities nor the Salinas and Zedillo administrations, who saw him as in league with the Zapatista uprising. Time heals, however, and in most circles Ruiz is remembered as somewhere between a positive force and a hero in the still-unachieved, but at least no longer ignored, quest to bring human rights to the native peoples of Chiapas.
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RITA GUERRERO (1964-2011)
Back in December of 2010, an unprecedented collection of talent took the stage in the old Teatro de la Ciudad in Mexico City’s Historic Center, with a line-up that included Maldita Vecindad, members of Café Tacuba and Zoe, Jaime López, Natalia Lafourcade and Alonso Arreola. They were there to raise funds for Rita Guerrero, diagnosed with breast cancer. One of the major Mexican rock bands of the 1990s was Santa Sabina, named for the Oaxacan shaman María Sabina and built around Guerrero. She didn’t make it, but the concert was one last example of what Guerrero did best — make music happen.
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DESTINATIONS
Zacatlán de las Manzanas, Puebla
Visitors here often end up spending as much time in the surrounding Sierra Norte mountains as in the town itself, sleeping in cabins or wandering on horseback around the waterfalls and eerie rock formations, with flocks of goldfinches flying out of the highlands mist. The town itself exudes that attractive blend of tranquility and industry, with a huge beflowered clock in the main plaza belying stereotyped notions of Mexico and time as it chimes the hour with a selection of melodies. It was locally made in a facility specializing in the manufacture of monumental clocks, and there’s a museum in town dedicated to clock- and watchmaking. You can look around the factory where they make low-proof ciders from the apple orchards that give the town the second part of its name (the first part, Zacatlán, is a Náhuatl word meaning grassy area). The guide will let you taste the chocolate, coffee, coconut and amaretto liqueurs used to make mildly alcoholic creams. And there is wine fermented from the apples, as well as peach, quine (membrillo) and a local fruit called huiquiño. Zacatlán de la Manzanas is about a three and a half hour bus ride from Mexico City.
Cadereyta de Montes, Querétaro
A pleasant artisan town about a hundred miles from Mexico City in the state of Querétaro’s Sierra Gorda mountains, Cadereyta de Montes is just up the road from another Pueblo Mágico, Ezequiel Montes. Both are close to the Peña de Bernal, a climbable monolith that rises imposingly out of the earth like a huge thimble. Cadereyta is an artisan town, and visitors usually take at least one pass through the crafts market selling locally made items of its signature marble, as well as clay, leather, wicker, cane and wool. Of equal local interest is the large botanical garden that serves as a fascinating introduction to the state’s diverse and mostly semi-arid flora. There are waterfalls and grottos in the surrounding landscape, as well as the ruins of Toluquilla, an ancient site of rulers that more than a millennium ago controlled much of the southern Sierra Gorda. Though named a Pueblo Mágico just months ago, the town leaders got a jump on things and built a tram route that takes passengers on a 60-minute tour of the town’s plentiful historical architecture, and other points of interest.
San Sebastián, a mountain town, close to Puerto Vallarta, yet a universe away.
Mineral del Chico, Hidalgo
Construction on Zacatlán’s Franciscan convent, a colonial architural jewel, began in 1562.
Tula, surrounded by cactus, mesquite and mammoth fossils.
The Palizada river is the heart and soul of the town of Palizada.
Magic Tourism
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION: Nine newly recognized small towns in Mexico that are guaranteed to be worth a visit in 2012.
Travelers in Mexico who want to get away from the cities and the resorts to explore small town life suffer an embarrassment of riches. How do you choose among so many? The Tourism Secretariat has made things easier. In the last several years, it has designated four dozen towns as Pueblos Mágicos — Magic Towns — and therefore worthwhile destinations for travelers. Now, “magic” may be a subjective, if not meaningless adjective for a pueblo, and it smacks more of marketing than anything else. Still, we know what they mean, don’t we? To get a Pueblo Mágico designation, the town must: Have historical, religious or cultural value. Possess traditions, mythology or an especially compelling daily life. Be accessible, via passable roads, and not too far from a big city or established tourist area. Offer at least basic amenities to visitors. Nine such towns have been designated Pueblos Mágicos in the last year. That means they are just beginning a new era in tourism development. So there’s no better time to visit them than 2012.
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Here’s another former colonial mining town that stayed vibrant after the ore ran out. It’s picturesque, of course (aren’t they all?), with that relaxed pueblo feel, a 19th century church and plazas marked by monuments to national heroes (the reform President Benito Juárez and Independence heroes Josefa Ortíz de Domínguez and Miguel Hidalgo, for whom the history-conscious state was named). Mineral del Chico has managed to strike that balance between traditional appeal and contemporary comfort; you can stay at a no-frills inn or a five-star hotel, and there are enough restaurants and bars to keep everybody happy. The town teems with visitors during the December and Holy Week holiday seasons, because the celebrations are lavish and colorful, and the ceremonies elaborate. But the main draw is the natural environment. They say no fewer than 32 unusual rock formations are in view from the town itself, and each has a name (like The Grind, The Chalice, The Fox and The Grapefruit). Mineral del Chico hugs the magnificent Parque Nacional El Chico, designated in 1898 as Mexico’s first protected natural area. It’s a wooded wonderland of pine and oak, as well as ocote, a Mexican pitch pine, and oyameles, the native fir so attractive to butterflies. Lush and river-rich from the abundant rainfall, the national park offers all the amenities — from primitive campsites to trailer parks and cabins, and there’s a lake created by the El Cedral dam, with boating and trout fishing. Mineral del Chico is about 12 miles from the state capital of Pachuca, which in turn is only about 65 miles from Mexico City. From top to bottom: The Poza Tulimán, a pool of water, outside Zacatlán. Colonial architecture is plentiful in Cadereyta, and you can see it all in a tram ride. The 6768-acre Parque Nacional El Chico is Mexico’s oldest and most admired National Park. El Cedral dam, outside Mineral de Chico, offers trout fishing and leisurely boating.
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DESTINATIONS
Tlayacapan, Morelos
This is an artisan town and a stop on the “Convent Route” of 14 early colonial era monasteries so striking in their beauty and historical significance that they’ve been recognized in their aggregate by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Mexico City residents like to escape the urban atmosphere and tour these convent towns in the mountains east of Cuernavaca (including nearby Tepoztlán, another Pueblo Mágico). They usually do it by car, sometimes on tour buses, even occasionally on bicycle, venturing out from popular accommodations in Cocoyoc, Oaxtepec or Cuernavaca itself. But there’s enough in Tlayacapan to merit making it your base. It’s own World Heritage convent, EL Convento de San Juan Bautista de Tlayacapan, dates back to the 16th century and was mostly used by the Augustinians. It was also used by Emiliano Zapata as a barracks during the Revolution. There’s a museum on site, in what was the De Profundis hall, with religious paintings, prehispanic artifacts, revolutionary documents and (always a favorite) mummies. Walking through town, you can’t help but be impressed by the sheer dominance of the arts and crafts shops and stalls, even if artisan work isn’t your thing. If it is your thing, you’re in the right place, because the prices are generally lower what you’d pay in the cities — for the simple reason that the work is done right there. It smells as good as it looks with its abundance of scented candles; the Cerrería, a 16th century building still standing next to the main plaza, once manufactured a quarter of the wax that Mexico sent to Spain, It’s now a cultural center. You can also hear the tradition. Tlayacapan is known for its music, and is considered the birthplace of the Chinelo, a symbol-laden, costumed carnaval dance that is the best-known and most-performed dance throughout the state of Morelos and beyond.
Palizada, Campeche
A river runs through it. It’s called the Río Palizada, and both town and river got their name from the abundance of dyewood in the area. It’s a pretty river, and used recreationally, one of the reasons that tourists (about 30 per cent of which are foreigners) enjoy coming to this mystic town near the Campeche-Veracruz border. It was originally settled by the Spanish to discourage Caribbean pirates from working their way inland. Palizada is the state of Campeche’s first Pueblo Mágico. It actually received the honor at the very end of 2010, but we figure that’s recent enough to include it here. The town is unusual, with roofs of French tile, and an unexpected replica of the Statue of Liberty in one of its several lush parks. The climate is warm and wet, and the natural surroundings are a main attraction. The wildlife is abundant, and in many cases tasty; townsfolks boast of their turtle dishes, and the famous local fish, the pejelagarto, is brought in from the coast. For many, the town’s appeal, besides its natural beauty, is its remoteness; it’s promoted as a “hidden treasure.” The closest airport city, Ciudad del Carmen on the Gulf coast, is about 35 miles away. And it’s a very small town, well under 10,000 in population.
Tula, Tamaulipas
It’stheoldestinhabitedareaintheborderstateof Tamaulipas,nowoccupying the skirts of the Cerro de la Cruz. In the 19th century, it was a major producer of ixtle, a distinctly Mexican textile fabric made from the same plant as tequila, the maguey. The railroads passed it by, however, ending its economic glory days. But the artisan know-how remained, and Tula’s weaving and leather goods are famous. The town’s biggest attraction may be its leather jackets, which pull in visitors form both sides of the Mexico-U.S. border. The boom also left an architectural heritage of wonderful colonial era constructions, mostly churches and hacienda buildings. But things get even older when you venture outside of town. There are pre-Hispanic vestiges to visit in the nearby Nahola Caves. And a large number of mammoth fossils have been found in the area. Tula (not to be confused with the old Toltec capital in the state of Hidalgo) is warm and mostly dry, part of a landscape where cactus and mesquite reign. And that can be heaven.
San Sebastián del Oeste, Jalisco
Most visitors understandably find it hard to leave Puerto Vallarta once they get there. But if they can manage to make it some 40 miles out of town, up almost 5,000 feet into the mountains and across the state border into Jalisco, they can find themselves in a quintessential colonial paradise. Now sparsely populated but immaculately preserved, San Sebastián was a major mining center (silver and gold, of course) for centuries until running out of energy about a hundred years ago. Visitors don’t need to do much else but enjoy the crisp mountain air and explore the village — a 19th century stone lovers bridge, 18th century inns and mansions, and a 17th century church, as well as any number of only slightly more recent ones. Or rent a horse and get out of town to take in the natural scenery, the old haciendas, and the thriving organic coffee farms. There are small museums in town to fill you in on local history, and visitors often find locals, from families with centuries-old roots in the area, who will engage in a little oral history.
El Oro, State of Mexico
One of the more pleasant weekend excursions available to residents and visitors of the greater Mexico City area is to head northwest out of Toluca, the state capital of the State of Mexico, and tour the ethnically traditional and astistically active highland towns along the breathtakingly scenic backroads. There’s Temoaya, with its world-famous woven rugs. There are visitable ceremonial centers of two major indigenous cultures in the area — the Otomí and the Mazahua. And there’s Temascalcingo, the birthplace of Mexico’s premier landscape painter, José María Velasco (1840-1912). At the far reaches of this tour, some 60 miles out of Toluca and hugging the Michoacán border, is El Oro, a newly named Pueblo Mágico. Its story is a familiar one — an important mining town that fell on hard times in the 20th century, leaving a mostly poor population that depends on tourism brought in by the architectural wonders left behind, the surrounding natural beauty and the town’s overall pleasantness. A railroad spur veered off from the main route toward Michoacán, leaving behind a late 19th century station straight out of “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” (You can now dine in a converted railroad car from that era, a tourist indulgence reportedly unavailable anywhere else in Mexico). The old Teatro Juárez hosted major theater attractions of its day and it looks like it still could. An old dam, built to supply water to the town and its neighbors back in their heydays, created a lake in an area perfect for hiking, picnics or overnight stays in available cabins.
Teul González Ortega, Zacatecas
Here’s an out-of-the-way and little known town that’s in the extreme southern reaches of the state of Zacatecas, actually closer to Guadalajara, Jalisco than the capital of its own state. It’s right in the heart of one of the richest archeological zones in all of Mexico, which is saying quite a lot. The cultures whose artifacts and other remains are being found in the area date back to the B.C. era. Many of the finds come from the Cerro Teul, the hill that has symbolized the area for millennia and dominates the town today. The site is still being actively explored, so visitors have to make do with a small museum and whatever they can run into during their wanderings. The town itself is attractive and comfortable, with beautiful colonial-era churches and public buildings. Plazas and gardens abound. And Teul is surrounded by fields of the blue agave plant, from which tequila is made. From top to bottom: San Sebastián del Oeste, a view from above. A unique train car dining experience in El Oro. The Cerro de Teul, an ancient archeological site, dominates the town.
From top to bottom: The San Juan Bautista Convent in Tlayacapan, a World Heritage Site. The memorable roofs of Palizada. An architectural heritage reflected in churches and hacienda buildings in Tula.
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SPORTS
Destination Brazil Mexico’s World Cup qualifying schedule gets under way in June. El Tri and five other nations (Costa Rica, Cuba, Honduras, Jamaica and the United States) will be joined by six other clubs who advanced out of the second round of qualifying – El Salvador, Guyana, Panama, Canada, Guatemala and Antigua and Barbuda. The 12 teams have been sorted into three groups of four and each team plays each nation in its group at home and on the road. The top two teams from each group advance to the final round-robin stage in 2013, from which three teams will qualify for Brazil 2014. Mexico opens its qualifying campaign on June 8 at home against Guyana. El Tri’s Group B schedule: June 8: Mexico vs. Guyana June 12: Mexico at El Salvador Sept. 7: Mexico vs. Costa Rica Sept. 11: Mexico at Costa Rica Oct. 12: Mexico at Guyana Oct. 16: Mexico vs. El Salvador Group A United States Jamaica Guatemala Antigua and Barbuda Group C Honduras Cuba Canada Panama
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On the Horizon: The Road to Rio TEAM MEXICO is looking hopefully toward the 2014 World Cup in Brazil after a very successful year on international stages.
T BY TOM BUCKLEY
eam Mexico scaled heights it had never before reached in international soccer, hoisting three trophies in 2011 and even climbing into theFIFATopTenbriefly. Green, white and red flags were a prominent fixture at international soccer tournaments throughout the year. Sadly, “Chicharito” and friends won’t have the opportunity to duplicate the thrills and glory in 2012, but only because there are fewer premier tournaments in the coming year. Instead, El Tri must settle for a gradual build-up toward the Confederations Cup of 2013 and the World Cup in Brazil in 2014. Federation officials and coaches will emphasize developing youngsters who flourished in the spotlight in 2011 and encourage veteran players to focus on securing regular minutes with their club teams, especially players on rosters in Europe. At the same time, coach José Manuel “Chepo” de la Torre will be making plans for the senior team to start World Cup qualifying with maximum efficiency so as not to complicate the process – a recurring problem that has troubled El Tri in the past three World Cup cycles. NO-NONSENSE COACH
“Chepo” de la Torre took the reins of Team Mexico in December 2010 but did not prowl the sidelines in front of El Tri’s bench until Feb. 9, 2011. After a disappointing World Cup in South Africa 2010, Mexico spent four months adrift as the Federation conducted a coaching search. During that span, El Tri played several friendlies with a series of interim coaches.
Worse than the uninspired performances was the controversy that erupted after a match against Colombia in Monterrey in September 2010. An “unauthorized” post-game party at the team hotel got out of hand and 11 players were fined while two were slapped with six-month suspensions. El Tri was on the brink of slipping into disarray. Into that maelstrom stepped “Chepo,” a 44-year-old former star player who had coached three league champions in his nascent managerial career (Guadalajara in 2006 and Toluca in 2008 and 2010). Despite the success, “Chepo” was considered inexperienced and was seen as a second choice behind Monterrey coach Víctor Manuel Vucetich. Pundits opined that Mexico might regress without a proven manager at the helm. Upon taking over, “Chepo” made it clear that discipline would be a priority. Players would have to earn their spots and demonstrate growth at the club level. Past performance and reputation would not guarantee a place on the national team. The new coaching staff featured respected teachers and talent evaluators, indicating the youth teams would be cultivated and developed. Twelve months later, the turnaround has been dramatic. Players understand that actions have consequences and lack of professionalism on or off the field will keep you off the team. First-choice goalie Jesús Corona missed the Gold Cup after a head-butting incident in a league playoff game. Long-time captain Rafael Márquez was overlooked for a November friendly after he was suspended by his club team. The team has responded positively to the stricter standards of conduct as well
TOM BUCKLEY
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January, 2012 : MEXICOREVIEW"29
SPORTS
The Olympic qualifying tournament for the Concacaf region will take place in the United States beginning in late March. Two groups of four teams will play a round-robin tournament with the top two teams from each group advancing to the semifinals. In addition to El Tri, Canada, Team USA, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama, Cuba and Trinidad & Tobago are vying for an invitation to London. The two finalists will qualify for the 2012 games. Participating teams must play the qualifying tournament with an Under-23 team. Four years ago, Mexico finished third in the group stage to miss out on the Beijing Olympics and the disastrous performance eventually cost coach Hugo Sánchez his job. Mexico was given the second seed in Group B which is comprised of 2008 tournament champion Honduras, Panama and Trinidad & Tobago. This group will be based in Nashville, Tennessee, and will play its matches at LP Field on March 22, 24 and 26. Group A features Team USA, Canada, Cuba and El Salvador and will be based in Carson, California. Its games will take place at The Home Depot Center on March 23, 25 and 27. The semifinals and the finals will be played at Kansas City’s Livestrong Sporting Park on March 31 and April 2, respectively. El Tri has taken part in nine Olympic tournaments (1928, 1948, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1992, 1996, 2004) but has never earned an Olympic medal.
30!MEXICOREVIEW : January, 2012
Eye on Champions League
earned the Bronze Ball while forwards Ulises Dávila, Taufic Guarch and Edson Rivera performed so well that they now play in Europe. Most of the players on the U-20 team are contributors on Mexican club teams and we shouldn’t be surprised if many of them make headlines in 2012, especially with Olympic qualifying around the corner.
YOUNGSTERS GROWING UP
At the junior levels, the rewards were more tangible as several pieces of hardware were collected. Mexico hosted the Under-17 World Cup in June-July and coach Raúl González masterfully led his team into the semifinals where powerful Germany awaited. The score was knotted at 2 in minute 90 when Julio Gómez converted a spectacular bicycle kick to push El Tri into the finals at Estadio Azteca. Mexico defeated Uruguay 2-0 to claim the nation’s second U-17 World Cup trophy, joining a short list of multiple U-17 champions (Brazil and Nigeria -3; Ghana and Mexico – 2). Gómez was awarded the Golden Ball as the tournament’s top player while teammate Carlos Fierro garnered the Bronze Ball. The backbone of the current senior national team is comprised of members of the 2005 squad that claimed Mexico’s first U-17 crown – Giovani dos Santos, Pablo Barrera, Efraín Juárez and Héctor Moreno. Ironically, Javier “Chicharito” Hernández was left off that roster due to injury, but he was with the team two years later when Mexico was ousted in the World Cup quarterfinals by Lio Messi and eventual U-20 champions Argentina. So while U-17 stars Gómez, Fierro, Giovanni Casillas and Marco Bueno bear watching as they develop with their club teams (Bueno had a 10-day training tryout with Liverpool in August and the Reds have indicated they are interested in signing him when he turns 18), it could be four to six years before they make an impact at the senior level. On the other hand, Mexico’s Under-20 team demonstrated that there is talent available to fill spots that might open before the 2014 World Cup. Coach Juan Carlos Chávez took his team to Colombia in late July where they opened eyes with offensive flair and disciplined defense. El Tri fell to eventual champion Brazil in the semifinals before defeating France to bring home the bronze medal. Defensive midfielder Jorge Enríquez
EYEING A GOLD MEDAL
After missing out on the 2008 Olympics in China, Mexico will have a London-orbust attitude at the Concacaf qualifying tournament this spring. The goal will be to repeat the performance of the 1996 team that breezed into Atlanta with a 7-0-0 record and a 21-1 goal differential. The Olympics require teams in the qualifying process to be comprised of players 23 years or younger. So, in addition to members of the U-20 squad, “Chepo” could select Team Mexico stalwarts such as Giovani dos Santos, Efraín Juárez and “Chicharito” as well as up-and-comers like Jesús Zavala (Monterrey), Marco
MEXICAN SOCCER FEDERATION
London Calling
as the tactical approach that emphasizes possession, flowing movement and a pressing defense. El Tri went 10-4-0 – including a 7-game winning streak – before losing to Brazil. Team Mexico finished the year 11-4-1 with 38 goals scored and 11 goals conceded.
Fabián (Chivas) and Jonathan dos Santos (Barcelona). No doubt the Olympic tournament will provide “Chepo” with the perfect opportunity to scrutinize potential senior team candidates up close. Tops on his list will be defensive midfield where senior starters Israel Castro (31) and Gerardo Torrado (32) are getting long in the tooth. Enríquez, Zavala and Jonathan dos Santos are all promising candidates for midfield roles heading into Brazil 2014. KINGS OF CONCACAF
MEXICAN SOCCER FEDERATION
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Perhaps the most satisfying result in 2011 was the June 25 victory over Team USA in the Gold Cup final. El Tri stormed back from an early 2-0 deficit and blew away Uncle Sam’s Army 4-2 behind two goals from Barrera and a gem for the ages from Giovani dos Santos. The tournament win sends Mexico into the 2013 Confederations Cup in Brazil that will feature the host team, Spain, Uruguay, Japan and the 2012 European Championships winner. Before that, regional World Cup qualifying begins in June and Mexico will square off with Costa Rica, El Salvador and Guyana. El Tri and Costa Rica are the favorites to advance out of the third round into the
final six-team qualifying tournament that will take place in 2013. While “Chepo” might do some experimenting, he’ll be more focused on settling on a first-choice goalkeeper and identifying strikers who pair up well with “Chicharito.” GoalieGuillermo Ochoaiscurrentlyplaying in France for cellar-dwelling Ajaccio but his solid performances could see him transfer to a bigger club over the summer. The 26-year-old Ochoa is only the second Mexican goalie to play in Europe, but he has yet to sparkle when standing between the posts for El Tri. His continued development could be critical to Team Mexico’s hopes in 2014. Another rising concern for “Chepo” is the ongoing run of injuries that has haunted “Chicharito” this season. If nagging leg and ankle knocks become a constant instead of just bad luck, a brittle “Chicharito” will not be a reliable choice up front. That’s when strikers such as Fabián, Oribe Peralta and Aldo de Nigris might be called upon to deliver goals. After reveling in a thrilling 2011 that saw Team Mexico climb as high as No. 8 in the FIFA world rankings, El Tri will want to stake its claim as an unquestioned member of the world’s Top 20 national teams Naturally, the next two years will be used to take this step with an eye on finally reaching the quarterfinals at a World Cup played outside of Mexico.
Four Mexican clubs reached the quarterfinals of the Concacaf Champions League tournament, including defending champion Monterrey. Since the new format was introduced in 2008, Mexican clubs have won each time, earning a spot in the year-end FIFA Club World Cup. Monterrey finished in fifth place at the 2011 Club World Cup in Japan in December that also featured Barcelona and Brazil’s Santos. The Concacaf tournament resumes in March with the two-legged finals set for late April. The first leg of the quarterfinals features these match-ups: • Santos Laguna at Seattle Sounders (MLS) • Los Angeles Galaxy (MLS) at Toronto (MLS) • Isidro Metapan (El Salvador) at UNAM Pumas • Rayados de Monterrey at Monarcas Morelia
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Carnaval de Veracruz
FEBRUARY
EVENTS
CARNAVAL DE VERACRUZ Feb. 14–22 in Veracruz, Veracruz
MARCH
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FESTIVAL DE MÉXICO EN EL CENTRO HISTORICO Mid-March in Mexico City
Veracruz offers the truest — some say only — carnival experience in Mexico, or anywhere else north of Rio de Janeiro. After the ceremonial burning in effigy of Bad Humor, the streets of this historic port city are taken over by floats and costume parades, as well as the music, dance and food that Veracruz is known for even in more mundane times of the year. Mexico City’s 668-block downtown Historic Center is a year-round cauldron of cultural celebration, but never more so than the three weeks in March when the annual Festival of Mexico fills more than 60 indoor and outdoor venues with music, art, theater, dance, film, food, traditional entertainment, academic activities and (if past is precedent) a number of cultural pursuits that defy definition. The urban festival, entering its 28th year, emphasizes the homegrown but is also generous in its international offerings. The main attraction, however, might be the old city itself; it seems to shine a bit brighter when it’s on display.
PAPAL VISIT March 23-25 in León, Guanajuato
Feria de San Marcos
Those are the probable dates that the city of León in the state of Guanajuato is expecting to host Pope Benedict XVI, as part of his Western Hemisphere visit that will include a historic stop in Cuba.
FESTIVAL VIVE LATINO 2012 March 23-25 in Mexico City
APRIL
G-20 SUMMIT June 18-19 in Los Cabos, Baja California Sur
If Mexico had a true national fair, this one in the San Marcos barrio of the city of Aguascalientes, in the state of the same name, would be it. Celebrants flock in from across the country, and from abroad. There’s a ton of cultural events and amusement rides, but the emphasis is also on the traditional — including bullfights, cockfights, charro-style equestrian shows and, of course, food.
JULY
Heads of state and other top government figures from the 20 biggest economies — including Mexico, the United States and the European Union — will take over the Baja Peninsula resort area of Los Cabos for the annual G20 Summit meeting, with President Calderón wielding the gavel. A 653,400-square-foot, solar panel-equipped convention center is under construction to house the sessions, and 11,000 of the 13,000 available room accommodations have been set aside for summit attendees.
ELECTION DAY July 1, nationwide FESTIVAL INTERNACIONAL CERVANTINO Oct. 3-21 in Guanajuato, Guanajuato
Mexicans go to the polls to elect a new president, an entire new Congress, a new Mexico City mayor and new governors in Guanajuato, Jalisco and Morelos.
NOVEMBER
The most prestigious cultural event in Latin America will celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2012 with its familiar blend of the traditional and cutting edge in art, music, theater, food and more, all unfolding in the aesthetically mesmerizing ambience of one of Mexico’s most beloved colonial city. Special invited guests: Switzerland, Poland, Austria and the state of Sinaloa.
FESTIVAL INTERNACIONAL DEL LIBRO Nov. 24-Dec. 2 in Guadalajara, Jalisco
DECEMBER
2012
Some Major Events in Mexico for
FERIA DE SAN MARCOS April 14-May 6 in Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes
OCTOBER
Mario Vargas LLosa
JUNE
The biggest and best gathering of rock en español greats and newcomers fills Mexico City’s Foro Sol (an outdoor stadium) for three days every spring. The 2011 edition reunited Caifanes, Mexico’s seminal rock band.
PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION Dec. 1
What started out as a modest University of Guadalajara book fair a quarter century ago is now the most important literary gathering — and publishing industry reunion — in the Spanish-speaking world, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors and participants, among them Nobel prize winners such as Herta Muller and Mario Vargas Llosa (pictured above at the 2011 book fair). The 2012 special guest country: Chile. The newly elected president takes office at a special session of Congress. The ceremony did not go smoothly during the last transition in 2006, when incoming President Felipe Calderón’s forces had to physically maneuver their way around an opposition blockade to get the oath of office administered.
END OF THE WORLD Dec. 21 (or is it Dec. 23?) As prophesied by the ancient Maya — at least as interpreted in some sectors of the public imagination. Expect awesome parties.
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