Iturbide’s Legacy: Independence and the Flag
Just as important as Hidalgo is the man that crafted the country’s independent separation from Spain after three centuries of colonization, Agustín de Iturbide
Read moreRicardo Castillo
AMLO’s Noncontroversial Megaproject
Ever since the first cross-country railroad from Tapachula on the Guatemalan border to the Juárez at the U.S, border, developing the isthmus into a Panama-type of interoceanic link has been in the plans of numerous Mexican governments
Read moreAMLO’s Electoral Reform on Opposition Collision Course
OPINION By RICARDO CASTILLO The dust from Mexico’s June 5 gubernatorial elections has not yet settled, but the government’s political opponents are all set for the next round with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) and his leftist National Regeneration Movement (Morena). Last week, the opposition Va por México coalition — composed of the conservative National Action Party (PAN), the
Read moreThe Bullfighting Beef: A Whole Lot of Bull
OPINION By RICARDO CASTILLO The two-front legal battle against bullfighting in Mexico was postponed from last week to Thursday, June 9. In essence, a municipal judge has allowed a temporary stay on bullfighting in the nation’s capital to continue while a lawsuit challenging its legality moves forward. In both cases, bullfights, usually held at the 42,000-seat capacity monumental Mexico City’s
Read moreINE Announces Preliminary Gubernatorial Election Results
By RICARDO CASTILLO Mexico’s National Electoral Institute (INE) late Sunday, June 6, issued the preliminary results of the “rapid count” of exit polls in the elections of the states of Aguascalientes, Durango, Hidalgo, Tamaulipas, Oaxaca and Quintana Roo, with little in the way of surprises. According to those results, the ruling National Regeneration Movement (Morena) party, which was founded by
Read morePaving the Way for a One-Party Regime
OPINION By RICARDO CASTILLO In the eyes of some pundits, the current trend in Mexican elections is the result of a democratic procedure, but for others, the imminent results of the country’s midterm elections on Sunday, June 5, is an ominous path to a return of a one-party system. If all current forecasts are correct, the “awesome threesome” political coalition
Read moreAll the Kings Horses
OPINION By RICARDO CASTILLO These days, the political gossip churners in Mexico have a new favorite target: Federal Deputy Alejandro Moreno Cárdenas, alias “Alito” (short for Alejandro), who is the both the current president of the once-mighty Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI, which ruled the country without interruptions from 1929 to 2000), and the leader of the remaining 70 PRI deputies in
Read moreAMLO and the Summit, an (Almost) Never-Ending Story
OPINION By RICARDO CASTILLO Every day he is asked the same question, and every day he continues to hem and haw. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) just can’t seem to make up his mind whether to attend next week’s Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, California. An old adage says that you can only stretch a rubber
Read moreThe Summit of the Americas and an Indecisive AMLO
OPINION By RICARDO CASTILLO Just a week before it is set to start, Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) has yet to decide whether he will attend the June 6 Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, California. Over this weekend, AMLO had several opportunities to make a statement as to whether he will attend, but instead kept repeating
Read moreIsthmus Train Project Chugging Toward a United America
OPINION By RICARDO CASTILLO The Isthmus of Tehuantepec is back in the news now that U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar announced last week a potential $500 billion investment in the new transoceanic project to link up Salina Cruz in the Pacific with the Coatzacoalcos port in the Gulf of Mexico. Hazy as Salazar’s financial plan may be for now,
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