When Mexico Shut Down
Home is not a safe space for many women around the world and coronavirus-era quarantines and lockdowns have increased the risk of gender-based violence. In Mexico, statistics reflect this reality and women additionally face the rising risk of becoming targets amid violent drug crime and the...
Mexico’s economy has for at least a century functioned according to the mordida system, often described simply as “the way of getting things done.” The word “mordida” literally means “bite,” but as part of a functioning system, it simply means “bribe.” In some ways, it’s closer...
Mexico’s recently elected progressive president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, known as AMLO, has assumed the monumental task of transforming the age-old mordida system of corruption. Some describe it simply as “the traditional and customary way of getting things done.” The president’s...
For Donald Trump, tariffs are a substitute for diplomacy, just as harassment in his personal life is a substitute for normal human interaction. Donald Trump has two tools at his disposal as president. The first is his mouth: the insults and threats that he issues verbally or by Twitter. The...
Who doesn’t play the politics of illusion? It appears to be the only game in town. Some people today remember that, not so long ago, the power game we call politics still employed the two basic toolboxes Aristotle bequeathed to Western civilization in ancient times: rhetoric and reasoning. The...
Walls are cropping up all over the world. But as with guns, the sense of safety and security that comes from a wall is almost entirely illusory. Geopolitics, like thermodynamics, has its laws of conservation. If a wall comes down in one place, you can bet that it will go up somewhere else. It...
The Trump administration’s proposed Mexico policies regarding immigration and trade will make America’s fears a reality. Minutes after descending from the golden escalator at Trump Tower, Donald Trump fired the first salvo at what would eventually become one of his favorite electoral targets...
Mexico’s relationship with the US is at an impasse. Donald Trump has already built barriers around his relationship with Mexico that are higher than any wall. The diplomatic slip in the form of a tweet that ended with President Enrique Peña Nieto canceling their meeting was apparently fixed...
An increase in gasoline prices is causing havoc in Mexico. Mexico starts 2017 with two trending topics: the announcement of new gasoline prices to the market, and multiple protests inspired by the adjustment period in the form of a 20% price hike. But while Mexicans are filled with outrage,...
Right-wing polarization may disrupt the bilateral relationship between Mexico and the United States. When Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump visited Mexico on September 1, 2016, local protesters made it clear: His offensive, untrue and divisive rhetoric about the Mexican people was...
Germany and Mexico must remain vigilant to prevent public perceptions from negatively impacting their asylum, refugee and migration policies. Germany is facing the most important immigration crisis in its history since World War II. The recent attacks that took place on three consecutive days in...
Mexico has one of the worst tax systems of all industrialized countries. Juan Armando Hinojosa Cantú, a Mexican construction contractor and business tycoon, is famous in Mexico for his alleged role in building a $7-million mansion for the first lady—best known as the president’s “White...
It is unlikely Mexico will reach its objectives at the North American Leaders’ Summit on June 29. In mid-June, Mexican Secretary of Finance Luis Videgaray traveled to Montreal to deliver a speech at the inaugural session of the International Forum of the Americas. Videgaray affirmed that...
