By RICARDO CASTILLO What was U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and accompanying rock stars doing last Friday, July 13, in Mexico City? The answer is easy and heard expressed repeatedly in Mexican slang. One of those expressions: “They were gauging the level of the water on the boiling sweet potatoes.” (“Midiendole el agua a los camotes.” It is a Mexican
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Videgaray seems to be a master chef for all the dishes in the nation’s formidable international menu. But being a jack-of-all-trades has its shortcomings, and, indeed, Videgaray is now in hot water many reasons. FIRST: Last Monday, May 21, Videgaray convened with the so-called Lima Group’s (GL, for Grupo de Lima) representatives, comprised by
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Sunday night television is never prime-time viewing in Mexico. But last Sunday, May 20, ratings were through the roof on a double-header featuring first the Mexican Soccer League championship game between the Torreón Saints and Toluca Red Devils, and, later, the second of three presidential debates, this time featuring the “Fantastic Four” hopefuls. In case you’re interested, the Saints became
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Last Sunday, May 6, Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) presidential candidate José Antonio Meade Kuribreña made a second launching of his floundering campaign. The change came perhaps too late, just 50 days before Mexico’s July 1 election. The fact is that until then, Meade – seen as an honest and indeed enthusiastic candidate – was one of a group of
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By RICARDO CASTILLO The purpose of U.S. presidential envoy Jared Kushner’s 12-hour trip to Mexico on Wednesday, March 7, remains a mystery. Traveling on a commercial airline all night, he arrived on time to meet with Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Videgaray for nearly three hours before both of them moved from downtown Mexico City to the presidential residence of Los Pinos.
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By RICARDO CASTILLO There is a vast chasm between tweet and fact. There was a worldwide sense of panic and urgency last week — including here in Mexico — when Tweeting Donald threatened to slap tariffs of 10 and 25 percent, respectively, on aluminum and steel. But there is no real need to worry, at least, not for now. U.S. President
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Just prior to his third monumental blunder last week, Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Videgaray Caso bragged boisterously to the media that his relation with the White House had never been as good as it had been in those now-seemingly far-away days. Anyone even vaguely familiar with Mexican international relations knows that bilateral relations have been severely strained by U.S.
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