Krauze on Mexico’s drug war

Enrique Krauze, possibly the best Mexican historian and the editor of the excellent Letras Libres magazine, has an Op-Ed in today’s New York Times discussing the current wave of drug violence in Mexico and the way it is perceived north of the border:
(…) While we bear responsibility for our problems, the caricature of Mexico being [...]

You may kiss after all

According to El Universal, after being nationally ridiculed, the mayor of Guanajuato backpedalled today and removed the new bylaws that would ban, among other things, “olympic-style” kisses (their term, not mine). Hours later he went further and announced a new international tourism campaign to present Guanajuato as the “capital of the kiss” and a “city [...]

No kissing

In Guanajuato, Mexico, there is a place called “Callejón del Beso”, or “Alley of the Kiss”. It is an extremely narrow street that earned the name due to a legend: two secret lovers lived across the street, they once kissed from balcony to balcony, and they were discovered and promptly murdered. It is now a [...]

Update on Mexico’s Energy Reform

Just a brief update: The energy reform I talked about recently passed the vote on the Chamber of Representatives too. No smuggling of legislators this time. Some Representatives did take the podium by force to try to block the proceedings, but the rest simply called for a vote from the floor.
It’s hard to oppose the [...]

Political reform, the Mexico Way

A few excerpts from El Universal’s account of yesterday’s passage of the Energy Reform in the Mexican Senate (original in Spanish; my translation omits some details but makes up no facts):

Senators Yeidckol Polevnsky and Rosario Ibarra headed the sabotage attempt, hiding PRD Representatives that pretended to take the podium. PRD Senators smuggled their fellow Representatives [...]

TIFF: Shakespeare and Victor Hugo’s Intimacies

Yesterday we went to see “Intimidades de Shakespeare y Victor Hugo”, a very personal Mexican documentary by Yulene Olaizola, at the Toronto International Film Festival. It’s a fantastic film, a beautifully constructed exposition of a delicate, twisting story. (Nothing to do with Shakespeare or Victor Hugo though, the title refers to an intersection in Mexico City.) [...]

Torture in Guanajuato

The Human Rights Commission of Mexico recently declared that the police of my home state of Guanajuato, Mexico, systematically torture people to obtain information and confessions (link in Spanish). Of course I’m not surprised –I don’t think anyone is–, and I’m pretty sure the problem is fully widespread in Mexico, but it’s good that at [...]

More Cinco de Mayo

The New York Times’ editorial page states that the popularity of Cinco de Mayo north of the Mexican border is the work of Corona’s marketing department. Perhaps; I still think that the fact that it celebrates a (minor) victory over the French has a lot to do with it.
Also, it looks like we need to [...]

Javier Aviles, rest in peace

Javier Aviles, a theatre director and actor from Leon, Mexico, passed away prematurely yesterday morning. I had the luxury of working with him for several years. He was a great man with a fantastic talent and an intense personality, and he pushed theatre in Leon, and in Mexico, far beyond the expectations of the audience [...]

First Pride Parade in Leon, Mexico

Hundreds of people participated in the first Pride Parade in my hometown of Leon, Mexico, yesterday (link in Spanish). Congratulations to all the participants! I’m doubly happy because, considering Leon is a very conservative city, the march went largely without a hitch.