President of Mexico

2,190 y contando…

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Calma, cordura, inteligencia, compromiso y muchos huevos.

Este país nos necesita y nos va a necesitar. La esperanza mesiánica irracional de las masas en muy poco tiempo se desinfla y se vuelve desilusión (los ejemplos de esto son demasiados, en México, en LATAM y en el mundo)… entendamos qué y quiénes somos los responsables de haber desilusionado tanto al país, que el mismo fuera vulnerable a otra venta de espejitos más. Entendamos las razones y ataquémoslas. Si no lo hacemos, Cuauhtémoc Blanco en 6 años…

Recordemos que cuando llegue el momento en que la burbujita truene (y va a llegar), muchas y muchos van a necesitar que los apoyemos en su regreso a la realidad. Como nos ha pasado en tantos otros momentos, nos vamos a tener que tender la mano, a apoyar, a darnos un abrazo y decir “sigamos adelante”.

En México hay MUCHO talento, mucho ingenio, mucha inventiva, mucho emprendimiento, mucha capacidad. México ha avanzado a pesar de sus gobernantes y lo seguirá haciendo si queremos que así sea y nos comprometemos con encontrar las formar de construir. Ningún Mesías falso lo va a hacer por nosotros.

Tienes derecho de encabronarte, de lamentarte, de seguir sintiendo ese malestar en la boca de tu estómago, porque te preocupa tu país, tu estado, tu ciudad, tu comunidad y tu familia… y sí, la incertidumbre está cabrona y no quiero ni pensar en lo que le va a pasar al peso mexicano en el corto plazo…

Pero quienes tenemos el privilegio de haber tenido acceso a una educación universitaria, quienes tenemos la capacidad analítica para tener prospectiva, quienes tenemos la mínima solvencia económica de no caer en la venta rapaz de un populismo que es la única luz de esperanza que les han dejado a las clases bajas de este país, NO TENEMOS DERECHO a claudicar. Y esto no lo dice un personaje imaginario en una bicicleta, lo dice un mexicano de verdad que quiere a su país y quiere verlo mejor.

Un presidente y su retórica no tienen derecho a robarte de tus ideas, de tus proyectos, de todos los planes que has diseñado y que estás ejecutando para seguir adelante. ¿Acaso te detuvo Peña? ¿Calderón? ¿Fox? ¿Salinas? Los obstáculos solo son diferentes… que bueno que tenemos la capacidad de adaptarnos y la seguiremos teniendo. Y seguiremos progresando a pesar de los gobernantes… a lo mucho, esto nos exige ser más creativos. Y si tenemos suerte, igual y este loco y su equipo hasta contribuyen en algo, pero no nos quedemos sentados esperando que así sea. No veo que tengamos razón para hacerlo y no la tendríamos si hoy estuviéramos viendo a Meade o a Anaya diciendo “Me canso, ganso”…

Calma, cordura, inteligencia, compromiso y muchos huevos.

2,190 y contando.

¡Ánimo!

Mexico’s First Lady among the best dressed… and that’s about it for now

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Here is a link to my latest article on AQBlog, titled “Mexico’s First Lady among the best dressed… and that’s about it for now“, published on March 22nd, 2013. Please feel free to visit and comment. Here is a verbatim copy of it in case you prefer to read it on my personal blog, though I recommend actually going to the site because of additional content, other blogger’s articles, etc.

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In a recent online article, Vanity Fair mentioned Angélica Rivera –wife of Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto–among the top-10 best dressed first ladies in the world. The piece was innocent enough and not unlike the lighthearted articles usually included in this publication. And yet, the article caught wildfire and was highlighted in Mexico’s mainstream media and newspapers, as if making the list was an incredible achievement and a coveted award.

Why is this? My best guess is that since Ms. Rivera has been out of the spotlight since she married and campaigned with Peña Nieto, the President’s PR team grabbed ahold of what they could to give her some sort of national print exposure. If this is the case, staying true to her past as a telenovela star, it seems the most we should expect from her in the coming years will be a pretty face in a pretty dress and a lovely TV smile.

The first 100 days of Peña Nieto’s presidency have come and gone and any political analyst would likely conclude that, whether you agree with his politics or not, the President’s team is doing a good job of portraying him as a hands-on leader who gets the job done. In recent weeks he’s made headlines by pushing forward a much-needed Education Reform, a Victims Protection Law and new Telecom policies.  Getting rid of Elba Esther Gordillo, the leader of the Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación (National Teachers Union—SNTE), certainly boosted Peña Nieto’s numbers as well.  And while I would not argue that the first lady’s role should be as relevant as the elected official’s, a look back at Rivera’s track record after the first 100 days in the Presidential residence of Los Pinos, reveals a blank slate and missed opportunities.

Traditionally, Mexico’s first lady is awarded the honorary position of president of the Sistema Nacional para el Desarrollo Integral de la Familia México (Integral Family Development National System Advisory Board—DIF).  Rivera accepted the role just a couple of weeks ago, having remained in the shadows up until then.

In Mexico’s history, the role of first lady has had its ups and downs, but in general, civil society does not expect the wives of Mexican presidents to be protagonists. In fact, most people tend to forget them a couple of years after their husbands’ terms end. But Rivera is not your run-of-the-mill first lady and if Peña Nieto’s team is intelligent, they will know that this time different rules apply.

Unlike other Mexican first ladies, Rivera was famous long before she became Peña Nieto’s wife, due to her career as a Televisa actress. Her nickname, “La Gaviota,” refers to a character she played in the telenovela “Destilando Amor.” When she married Peña Nieto, the public perceived it as an arranged marriage, thought out by the big heads in the PRI party and the telecommunications giant Televisa, to create the perfect candidate to return the PRI to power. After series of public gaffes, the public perceived both Rivera and the President as incompetent, shallow (but very handsome) puppets of the powers that be. After their marriage, social media went crazy, portraying Rivera as a bimbo who’s only positive attributes where her looks. Old pictures of her wearing a bikini inspired a series of jokes and memes.

As a former pop celebrity with a Barbie doll façade, Rivera is and will be under much more pressure and public scrutiny than her predecessors. Selling her to the Mexican public and the world as “one of the best dressed” just makes it easier for PRI detractors to continue accusing the couple of being a PRI-Televisa precooked dish, served specially for a dumbed-down, but hungry for junk food, citizenry.

In its article, Vanity Fair placed Rivera among good (and very stylish) company, including Queen Rania of Jordan and U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama. But whereas Obama has taken a leadership role in the U.S. by advocating healthy living and exercise and Queen Rania’s education and social work has arguably made her even more popular than King Abdullah II himself, La Gaviota’s past as a model, actress and failed singer, is not something a lot of first ladies would brag about.

If harnessed correctly, Rivera’s stardom could actually catapult her to a new role as a promoter of Mexico’s social well-being. Look at Shakira’s and Ricky Martin’s incursions in nonprofit causes in the region. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that fame is a great catalyst for driving the social agenda in Latin America—and arguably the world (greetings, Bono). But it seems that with Rivera, the PR team that created the Presidential match-made-in-heaven has not yet picked up on this potential.

If the Atlacomulco and Azcárraga puppet-masters want to ensure their investment works and the PRI remains in power longer than six years, their strategy has to be bullet-proof. Among other things, if they really want to make sure that people buy this “new” PRI that’s got its act together, they can’t allow Mexico’s low expectations of Rivera’s performance as first lady to come true. A pretty dress will only get you so far.

A list of articles I published in 2011

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During 2011 I had the honor of writing for Americas Quarterly online blog. They published 19 of my articles. Here are links to each of them. I hope you like looking back on the year through this list. Best wishes for 2012.

Oh what a day!

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One hundred and fifty-two years ago today, Mexican President Benito Juarez declared all of the Church’s goods a national property, breaking ties between political and religious institutions.

Four hundred and eighty-six years  ago today,  Martin Luther married the nun Katharina Von Bora, breaking with celibacy.

It’s also Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s birthday.

Mexican President Targets Corruption

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Here is a link to my latest article on AQBlog, titled “Mexican President Targets Corruption” http://www.americasquarterly.org/node/2315 and published on March 15th, 2011. Please feel free to visit and comment.

Here’s a copy of it:

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Felipe Calderón is changing the rules of the game for fighting corruption. Earlier this month, Calderón announced a series of initiatives targeting corrupt practices in public service and for the first time, providing rewards to whistleblowers and citizens who provide information leading to identification of these practices.

Mexico’s President recognized that “the depth at which corruption has penetrated our society is a problem we can no longer permit.”  These types of declarations, which candidly and honestly recognize our fragile state, are unbecoming of what we are accustomed to hear from him.

Possibly wanting to shift public discourse away from the violence and crime dialogue (which is obviously linked to corruption), Calderón talked about this new legal framework and what it looks to achieve in more economic terms: “we must not allow corruption to continue hurting Mexicans, reducing our competitiveness or blocking our country’s ability to grow.”

Calderón praised the effectiveness of a process called Denuncia Ciudadana through which citizens denounce public officials for illegal practices such as corruption. However, actual follow through on these claims is the real problem in Mexico. Enforcement and the capability to prosecute is a definite must if we are to see a successful outcome of these initiatives. Reforma newspaper recently ran a story on the fact that out of 1,779 public officials who have been denounced for corrupt practices only one has been prosecuted and was set free on bail. The rest of the cases continue piling up on the docket.

What is new and sends out a powerful message to all of our citizenry is the fact that the federal government is actively seeking and promoting more civil participation in this battle by offering economic stimuli to individuals denouncing offenders.  He did not mention amounts of money, but if implemented correctly, this change in the game could prove to be most successful in a country where people do not denounce crimes, partly because of lack of trust in the system.

Another part of the initiative, the Ley Federal Anticorrupción en Contrataciones Públicas (Federal Anticorruption Law on Public Contracts), targets the private sector by setting sanctions against companies that offer public officials any type of gifts (usually money or some type of benefit) in favor of winning public contracts. These sanctions include removing the company’s eligibility to obtain contracts for up to eight years and a fine of up to 30 percent of the contract in question.

It seems Felipe Calderón was holding off on some of the most important and popular governmental initiatives until they became relevant toward the next presidential elections. Recently, we’ve seen a more publicly active President being the spokesperson for transformational efforts that could give the Partido de Acción Nacional (PAN) a better shot at retaining power. With the PRI swinging back, the PRD falling apart from within and PAN-PRD alliance talks still up in the air, the 2012 process could prove to be one of the most interesting elections we’ve seen in recent history.

We can only hope that pre-election jitters become the catalysts for many more of these very needed reforms and that they are actually and successfully implemented. It’s unfortunate that we always have to wait until election times to get the ball rolling but for now, let’s enjoy a step forward.

*Arjan Shahani is a contributing blogger to AQ Online. He lives in Monterrey, Mexico, and is an MBA graduate from Thunderbird University and Tecnológico de Monterrey and a member of the International Advisory Board of Global Majority—an international non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of non-violent conflict resolution.

Former Mexican President Misses the Mark on Drugs

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Here’s a link to my most recent article on AQBlog, titled “Former Mexican President Misses the Mark on Drugs”

http://www.americasquarterly.org/node/2241
Date published: Feb 11th, 2011 I hope you find it interesting. Please feel free to comment.

Here’s a copy of it:

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This week, while participating in a university event in the Dominican Republic, former President Vicente Fox went out on a limb and pointed his finger toward Colombia and Venezuela for presumably being culprits in Mexico’s drug-cartel violence problem.

Ignoring the basic economic principle that demand drives production, Fox ridiculed himself by saying that Mexico’s challenges in combating drug-related violence are mainly due to the fact that “Colombia continues to produce way too many drugs. And Venezuela continues to make it easy to smuggle drugs.”

Reminding us of the fact that during his presidential term, diplomatic ties between Mexico and Venezuela were severed, Fox went on to say that “it seems that there is an association between Hugo Chávez and the drug cartels. This is what happens when someone loses the compass of democracy. Such is the case of Hugo Chávez, who has lost his head.”

Vicente Fox made a mark of his presidency by constantly blurting out things without thinking about them beforehand (Mexico’s own version of the very famous “Bushisms”). Here are some examples of them:

  • “Seventy-five percent of all Mexicans now have washing machines. And I don’t mean the ones that stand on two feet.” A sexist joke not taken lightly by our female constituency.
  • “Mexico should escape ‘the perfect dictatorship’ as famous Nobel Laureate Vargas Llosa once said.” Vargas Llosa had not received the Nobel prize at that time.
  • “I did a lot of mischief when I was a kid. I continue to do mischief now that I am President.” Speaking at a Children’s Day event (April 2001).

Fox’s recent declarations about Colombia and Venezuela can now be officially added to the “Foxisms” list.

The fact that Colombia and Venezuela are origin countries for some of the narcotics that travel through Mexico is the least of all the causes of rampant violence in the country. What about corruption and cajoling between law enforcement agencies and Mexican drug cartels? What about a weak rule of law that does not allow us to effectively prosecute drug trafficking offenders in Mexico? Shouldn’t we also crack down on local production of these narcotics? (They don’t all come from South America, you know).

Now as I mentioned earlier, demand drives production. If Fox is pointing fingers, shouldn’t he also look to the North? The U.S. is where the highest demand for these illicit products lies. You can’t address the drug problem without looking at the demand side. Also, drug cartels are not shooting at each other with packages of cocaine from Colombia. They are throwing hand grenades and shooting with AK-47s and AR-15s bought in the United States and brought into Mexico without any resistance or actual vigilance on the U.S.-Mexico border. Where is our binational responsibility in stopping this?

Whether Hugo Chávez is associated to Venezuela’s drug cartels or not is beside the point. The shootings and executions are not going to go away because our former president has a chip on his shoulder about unfinished business with South America.

*Arjan Shahani is a contributing blogger to AQ Online. He lives in Monterrey, Mexico, and is an MBA graduate from Thunderbird University and Tecnológico de Monterrey and a member of the International Advisory Board of Global Majority—an international non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of non-violent conflict resolution.