From the New York Times:
Mexico’s New Arrivals Mix Praise and Criticism
By DAMIEN CAVE
MEXICO CITY — Can Mexico ever ascend to its proper place in the world economy without tackling corruption and crime head on? When will the country, with its rising potential, stop being held down by weak government?
Those are some of the tough questions raised by readers responding to an article published in The New York Times on Sunday [by Damien Cave] about the growing number of immigrants from around the world who have resettled Mexico in recent years, viewing it as a land of emerging opportunity. Many foreigners who have lived in the country for years stressed that while they wished the world would focus more on Mexico’s strengths, they also wished the country would do more to tackle its flaws – especially corruption and a justice system that does little or nothing.
“This is a great dynamic place for growth and wonderful things to happen,” said Irene Lee Pagan, 74, a Texas jeweler who moved to San Miguel de Allende 20 years ago. “But the police don’t care. They’re just sitting there getting a paycheck.”
Though her city’s new mayor put up posters promoting himself, she said, not one of the 50 robberies and assaults that occurred in her neighborhood over the last three years had been solved. Just a few days ago, she added, a Canadian retiree was beaten during a robbery in her home and nearly died, adding another unsolved crime to the list.
“I told the police, ‘If one or two of these other crimes had been resolved, this woman would not have been at death’s door,'” she said. “But they just don’t see it.”
... And according to one foreign businessman with two decades of experience in Mexico, neither the country’s powerful officials, nor the corporate executives they often court worldwide, have put in the necessary effort to change how things work.
“The lack of transparency in the government (national and local) and honest enforcement of laws leads often to years of litigation regarding such things as property rights and employment disputes, where all too often whoever has the deeper pockets comes out on top,” he wrote. While Mexico is, in fact, “a land of opportunity,” he said, it is “definitely not for novices.”
The idea of an American owning a home in Mexico is not some novel 2013 breakthrough, it's actually something that has faded from memory over the decades. For instance, when I was young it wasn't considered remarkable that the Hispanophilic John Wayne (who had three Hispanic wives) spent much of his time in Mexico, filming movies in Durango and relaxing at his cliff-top home in Acapulco.
Americans living in Mexico used to be more in the gossip columns because it was a popular destination for celebrities and bohemians who felt hemmed in by pre-1960s America. For example, in 1951 rich writer/druggie William Burroughs shot and killed his wife at a party in Mexico City. The Burroughs cash register heir managed to more or less bribe his way out of that rap.
As America loosened up, however, the appeal of Mexico declined for American celebrities (although celebrity murderers, such as O.J. Simpson in 1994, continue to keep it in mind). Why go to Tijuana when you can go to Las Vegas?
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52 comments:
As was mentioned in a previous iSteve post in December 2012, maybe it is time for the US to invade and install some better institutions. We would have a ton of Mexicans living in the US at our disposal, as opposed to Ahmed Chalabi and his crew. We probably could do it with the support of a majority of the population, especially the Meztisos, if we orchestrated it as a way to give power back to the people.
I am an anti-interventionist, but mainly because all our interventions happen half way around the globe, and I can see little benefit. But if you could turn Mexico into a decent state, it would be a huge benefit. Does anyone in power not see the benefit of a Mexico functioning like Canada?
I remember back in the early 1990s, Helmut Kohl of Germany was saying that if he were the President of the US, he would focus on making three Latin nations economically strong so that we could have a Western Hemisphere trading bloc and cut down on migration. He cited those nations to work on as Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. He pretty much said the rest could be ignored and that the three prosperous Latin nations could absorb any migrants that fled the ignored nations.
Can Mexico ever ascend to its proper place in the world economy...?
I believe that it may already be in it's "proper place".
I just read The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test this summer and the part where Ken Kesey flees to Mexico was pretty interesting. Although most of his story took place in the 60's, it was in the part of the 60's before the "60's" really reached a wide audience.
I'm surprised you didn't quote this part:
" Andy Kieffer, a former Silicon Valley entrepreneur who lives in Guadalajara, said Americans needed to reconsider Mexico and the way they judged the country. He argued that Mexico’s largest cities are statistically less violent than Baltimore, Detroit, New Orleans, Oakland and St. Louis.
“When combined with the frequent, and high profile, mall/theater/school shootings (unheard-of in Mexico) in the U.S., I find it curious that Mexico is characterized as an unsafe ‘blood bath,'” he said. “What is the source of this? Veiled racism? An attempt by anti-immigration advocates to demonize Mexicans? A fear of anything different? A misplaced idea that home is always safer?”"
I believe that it may already be in it's "proper place".
The NYT does get the apostrophe right.
Well, Fred Reed likes it, so it can't be all bad.
“This is a great dynamic place for growth and wonderful things to happen,” said Irene Lee Pagan, 74, a Texas jeweler who moved to San Miguel de Allende 20 years ago.
And then it goes on to list all the robberies and violent crimes.
That's like Marion Berry (?) saying that if you take the murders out of the D.C. crime stats, D.C. is a peaceful place.
I oppose intervening in Mexico. If we do, every Mexican illegal alien currently in country becomes an instant war refugee with legal status.
Yikes! Let Mexico be Mexico. I like it. Chase your dollars elsewhere, mis chicos!
Crime stats: Mexico vs United States
And this.
>For example, in 1951 rich writer/druggie William Burroughs shot and killed his wife at a party in Mexico City.<
This spring Malcolm X's grandson came down here and got shot to death in a whorehouse. (It was a clip joint and he raised hell over the bill.) Ai, los gringos.
Woa, woa, woa, hold it.
What about Cabo san Lucas for Anniston, Brad Pitt, JIm Rome, and many other glitterati stars?
Also, Wayne did some hunting jaunts with pals Ward Bond and John Ford in Mazatlan, which also used to be for famous folks up til it was replaced by Acapulco.
"Americans living in Mexico used to be more in the gossip columns because it was a popular destination for celebrities and bohemians who felt hemmed in by pre-1960s America."
I recently read Charles Portis' The Dog of the South (set in the late '60s or early '70s) and David Markson's Miss Doll, Go Home (set in the '50s). In the former the main character blithely drives through Mexico (via Texas) to get to Belize. In the latter a bunch of American beatniks who live in small-town Mexico try in their bumbling way to rob some American crooks who are hiding from the law.
Drive through Mexico? Who the heck does that?
Americans living in Mexico? What am I reading?
I grew up in South Texas (a.k.a. North Mexico) in the late '70s and early '80s and I do not remember it ever being a good idea to drive your car with its U.S. plates into Mexico and meander around the country.
Nor do I remember hearing much about white Americans living in Mexico. Then of course right after I finish the Markson novel, I learn that an elderly white gay couple I know in passing is selling their business and retiring to San Miguel de Allende.
So there you go; another anecdote that can be transubstantiated into data if one knows the proper incantations.
As America loosened up, however, the appeal of Mexico declined for American celebrities (although celebrity murderers, such as O.J. Simpson in 1994, continue to keep it in mind). Why go to Tijuana when you can go to Las Vegas?
No donkey shows in Vegas.
A few years ago a NYT reporter wrote a book about Mexico, Distant Neighbors, in which (as I remember) he described it as the 2nd most corrupt country on earth, after Russia. You can read all about it here:
https://www.google.com/search?client=opera&q=corrupt+history+of+mexico&sourceid=opera&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&channel=suggest
Here are some Mexican opinions as to why Mexico is so corrupt:
http://www.quora.com/Mexico/Why-is-Mexico-so-corrupt
Actually it sounds a lot like China.
Mexico may not be so awesome, but donkey shows are. Which means Mexico is at least kind of awesome.
"Weak government" indeed? Tell that to the Cristeros whom the Mexican regime exterminated during the 1920s and 1930s ... or, for that matter, to the several hundred civilian protesters gunned down by a slightly milder version of said regime during one night in 1968 (the Tlatelolco massacre).
"Anonymous Robert said...
"Weak government" indeed? Tell that to the Cristeros whom the Mexican regime exterminated during the 1920s and 1930s ... or, for that matter, to the several hundred civilian protesters gunned down by a slightly milder version of said regime during one night in 1968 (the Tlatelolco massacre)."
I think they mean weak as in unable to adequately enforce the law or provide services, not weak in the sense of "unable to kill people". Third World governments tend to be inept but brutal.
Let's not discount a weak and corrupt government. It makes the people tough, in a way. Something like 50 million Mexicans have moved to the US and displaced the natives. How many US citizens have moved to Mexico? Five? Who is the strong horse here? Who will inherit the future?
although celebrity murderers... continue to keep it in mind...
SPOILER ALERT
As celebrity murderers go, the fantasy of the Mexican Shangri-La figured rather prominently in The Shawshank Redemption.
>I do not remember it ever being a good idea to drive your car with its U.S. plates into Mexico<
Correct, not a good idea IMO. From the US, fly in. Expat websites can give other good tips.
Back when I was a college kid, the clubs on Revolution (in TJ) used to advertise on 91X (itself based in Mexico--the San Diego equivalent of KROQ). Even into the late 1990s, early 2000s, I would got to Hussongs or Papas y Beer.
Listening to 91X lately (doing some construction side work with a few Anglo kids), there is nothing but
1) US based advertising
2) Mexican government PSA's in English
It's not like I'm going down to Rosarito to check out the scene, but I have a feeling that it is nothing like it was.
" Andy Kieffer, a former Silicon Valley entrepreneur who lives in Guadalajara, said Americans needed to reconsider Mexico and the way they judged the country. He argued that Mexico’s largest cities are statistically less violent than Baltimore, Detroit, New Orleans, Oakland and St. Louis.
“When combined with the frequent, and high profile, mall/theater/school shootings (unheard-of in Mexico) in the U.S., I find it curious that Mexico is characterized as an unsafe ‘blood bath,'” he said. “What is the source of this? Veiled racism? An attempt by anti-immigration advocates to demonize Mexicans? A fear of anything different? A misplaced idea that home is always safer?”"
The murder rate in Mexico is roughly 5 times that of the U.S. Does this presumably intelligent man not know any better? Why must you "anti-racist" and "pro-immigrant" people always be so dishonest and disingenuous?
That was an interesting Wikipedia entry on William Burroughs. Steve, you'd said before that Wikipedia entries tend to be too bland and stale as compared to traditional encyclopedic articles of old. Well, this particular biography was written with a lot of flair. It seemed almost to be written by some of his literary friends.
Is one of the characters from that Kerouac-themed movie "On the Road" based on Burroughs?
Anonymous said:
"Third World governments tend to be inept but brutal."
Welcome to your future, gringo. Your very near future.
Bob Grant used to say that this country was slipping and sliding into Third Worldism. If we're not quite there yet, we're close - and probably far past the point of no return.
the vibrant immigrants seems to be american retires
Two of Charles Portis' novels take place in the Mexico of yesteryear: Gringos and The Dog of the South. Great books to get a fictionalized view of what Mexico used to be like for Americans. The corruption has always been there, apparently, but in the books, crime is non-violent and not terribly prevalent, so government and police corruption comes off as endearing, not frightening. Such corruption drives the humorous sub-plots in Gringos.
(In case you don't know, Portis is the author of True Grit. He has a few fans in the literary intelligentsia, but he has never been given rock-star status because he's an ex-Marine from the South, and he's not exactly PC with his portrayal of non-whites. Masters of Atlantis has one of the best and funniest scenes I've ever read involving a meetup between ghetto thugs and old hapless whites.)
"The idea of an American owning a home in Mexico is not some novel 2013 breakthrough, it's actually something that has faded from memory over the decades. For instance, when I was young it wasn't considered remarkable that the Hispanophilic John Wayne (who had three Hispanic wives) spent much of his time in Mexico, filming movies in Durango and relaxing at his cliff-top home in Acapulco."
In the 1950s the IRS was fairly insouciant about enforcing the U.S.' unique system of taxing citizens who reside outside the country. They started cracking down somewhat in the 1960s (LBJ's Foreign Investors Tax Act, which imposed the first exit tax) and 1970s (Bank "Secrecy" Act which created the requirement to file Foreign Bank Account Reports).
By the 2000s almost all the celebrities had moved home (aside from the few who burned their passports, like John Huston), but instead of admitting that it had hit the point of diminishing marginal returns, Congress & the IRS were even more desperate for revenue to fund services for illegal immigrants, so they upped the level of enforcement further and started harassing Canadian housewives who happened to be born in Maine hospitals:
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.html?id=647e74e1-7134-4909-b042-324b3594603d
But didn't Hank Hill warn us that Americans can't own land in Mexico? There are a lot of web pages (such as this one) discussing confusion over this question, indicating that the matter usually turns out to be confusing.
"Here are some Mexican opinions as to why Mexico is so corrupt:
http://www.quora.com/Mexico/Why-is-Mexico-so-corrupt
Actually it sounds a lot like China."
You bring up an excellent point. I myself have always wondered if the tendency for endemic corruption in mexico and their penchant for deception stems from their spanish roots, or their asian ones. (possibly both?)
He argued that Mexico’s largest cities are statistically less violent than Baltimore, Detroit, New Orleans, Oakland and St. Louis.
I wonder if there's a reason for that. I wonder if it has something to do with Baltimore, New Orleans, Oakland and Dear Ole St. Louis having a high population of Africanus Bellcurvius and Mexican cities not.
Here's an interesting book about Mexico:
God's Middle Finger: Into the Lawless Heart of the Sierra Madre Paperback
by Richard Grant
...
Grant describes his journey into the anarchic back country of central Mexico. In 1988, we took a train ride through this area to visit the Copper Canyon - a fantastic trip, by the way. A few yaers after our visit, the train was robbed by some local banditos, and a couple of European tourists were killed. This generated a lot of international outrage, forcing the Mexican government to send the army into this area. The drug lords, who really were running the show, were not happy about all this scrutiny, and they knew who the banditos were. So they put out the word to leave the train and the tourists alone. And just to make sure that everybody understood the message, the robbers and many members of their families were murdered, many in most gruesome fashions. But nobody bothered the tourists again. Ah, Mexico!
The jeweler complaining about the police doing nothing about the robberies should consider the idea that the police themselves might be involved in them. Most Mexicans seem to consider the police just another gang.
>>Drive through Mexico? Who the heck does that?
Um, I do. I have driven an estimated 50,000 miles in Mexico in the last 8 years. Since I have Texas plates, my only problem in most cases is attorneys chasing me down the street offering to help me nationalize my car, heh, heh.
As far as living in Mexico, there are an estimated number of North Americans, perhaps as many as hundreds of thousands of us. A million legal foreigners in Mexico, and it is believed most are North Americans.
But, please, please, please understand it is a terrible place. If you believe that, you won't come down here and destroy my neighborhood, aka as My Little Paradise.
Yes, Mexico is very corrupt. They have a president who isn't even a legal alien, and the press has conspired to cover it up. Also, they just recently gave $700 billion dollars to corrupt bankers who had speculated like crazy people, to bail them out. And, the nation is spending nearly a trillion dollars a year more than it has coming in. And, their tax people screwed over people whose politics they didn't like. And, their Federal government allowed criminals to buy high powered weapons illegally, that have been used to kill citizens. And, if you drive cross country, cops illegally stop you with no probable cause in hopes of stealing your car without due process. Also, corrupt, stupid cops taser elderly women in wheel chairs who then die. OH, WAIT A MINUTE!
As far as the Tlatelolco massacre, in 1998, the Mexico City press began for the first time to report what actually happened there. My brother-in-law and his wife were part of those "peaceful protesters". Turns out it was a standard Marxist event, with armed provocateurs shooting at the police.
It was instigated by Marxist professors from UNAM. They told the gullible students that as students the government would not DARE to harm them, that they would change the nation. The professors, as Marxist professors always do, well knew there were going to be armed provocateurs shooting at the cops. But, they assumed the world press, also Marxist sympathizers, would hide that fact. They did, too. And, still are, as you can see.
And, they expected the world's response would bring down the existing government and put in a Marxist government. If I had not been in Mexico City in 1998, when a local newspaper printed original pictures from 1968, and interviewed survivors, I would be as ignorant of the truth as most of you.
I have met those Marxist professors. We had Christmas and New Years feast at our shared home, and they were invited. My BIL still views them as heroes.
Based on past experience, I am confident someone will come on here, and scream curses at me, and tell you I am totally wrong. So be it. But, you have heard the truth as reported in 1998 by the Mexico City press.
My brother-in-law had his brains boiled by the Marxist professors. One day he told me that in the US, under capitalism, babies are dying every day from starvation. Seriously. And, he believes it.
Steve, your comment section demonstrates extreme ignorance of Mexico. A lot of totally false and ignorant statements. But, as I said, please, all you guys, believe them and leave us alone down here.
Anonymous age 71
Someone mentioned Fred Reed. The Mexico I live in is the same one Fred Reed lives in. Life is good here.
Mexico is one fo the safest nations in the Central American region. Look up CIA figures for murders in places like Nicaragua and El Salvador. Most of the murders in Mexico are members of the drug cartels.
Some time ago, there was a big fuss when two Canadian tourists were murdered. Turns out they were down here trying to sit up connections in drug trafficking.
Anonymous age 71
Never pay any attention to the NYT on Mexico. A year or so ago, they had an article about a 9 year old Mexican girl who gave birth. Omigod, what a disgusting nation. No matter that nearly 15 years ago, an 8 year old girl in Amarillo, Texas was pregnant!
Anyway, the reporter claimed that the Age of Consent in Mexico was 12. What a disgusting country!
Actually it later came out she was 12, almost 13, and her stepfather will spend most of his remaining years of life in prison. As he should.
And, I personally guarantee you the age of consent in virtually all of Mexico is 18. I have the penal code in my bookcase for my state, and have read them for other states.
The reporter's ignorance was based on her stupidity -- if not deliberately malicious, of course.
Before age 12, statutory rape, if we can call it that, is akin to murder, with up to 40 years in prison.
After age 12, it is up to the girl or family to press charges . They realize here in Mexico that young girls do at times have strong libidos, and just might choose to get laid. If the family, who knows the girl better than anyone, decides she knew what she was doing, they will often not choose to destroy a man's life. If they don't press charges, the cops and prosecuting attorney can't do a thing.
Anonymous age 71
"No donkey shows in Vegas." That you know of.
"Anonymous said...
Does anyone in power not see the benefit of a Mexico functioning like Canada?"
Yeah, that would be great. So, all we need to do is fill Mexico with Canadians, or turn Mexicans into Canadians. How do we do that?
"Robert said...
"Weak government" indeed? Tell that to the Cristeros whom the Mexican regime exterminated during the 1920s and 1930s ... or, for that matter, to the several hundred civilian protesters gunned down by a slightly milder version of said regime during one night in 1968 (the Tlatelolco massacre)."
Funny you should mention that, as today just happens to be the 45th anniversary of the massacre. I remember, back in the eighties, a friend of mine, who was at the time a journalism student, told me something that had been related to him by a reporter he had interned with - how the story of the massacre went out on the AP wire that night in 1968, but that nothing much was made of it. It happened not long after the Olympics were hosted in Mexico City. The government had been squeezing the country to pay for it, and cracking down on the dissent that engendered. I guess the worlds rather limited attention span for Mexico had all be used up by the summer games.
Correction: The Tlatelolco massacre happend just a little over a week before the 1968 summer Olympics, not after.
Mexicans immivade the US because they have no opportunities in Mexico, the land of opportunity for non-Mexicans. 'K Mexico's problems are caused by 1) too many Mexicans 2) Too few non-Mexicans.
A great crusade for those 'We are the 99% types. Sort of like carpetbagger Yankees in the South or English Imperial Police like Orwell. A majority of Mexicans say they would like to come to the US in some polls, and Central Americans are even more desperate for Anglos running things.
Picture it being a bit like the Raj wearing a Sombrero. There's a chance it works and Mexico blooms with progressives running the show. Even when it fails like an hbd nerd in gym class, it would give the occupiers something to do...in Mexico!
"Andy Kieffer, a former Silicon Valley entrepreneur who lives in Guadalajara, said Americans needed to reconsider Mexico and the way they judged the country. He argued that Mexico’s largest cities are statistically less violent than Baltimore, Detroit, New Orleans, Oakland and St. Louis."
The disingenuousness - or stupidity - of such people is boundless. Gosh - Baltimore, Detroit, New Orleans, Oakland and St. Louis - what do these cities all have in common that would make the crime rate there greater than that of Mexico? What could it possibly be? I guess it will just have to remain a mystery. Somethings cannot be known.
"Does anyone in power not see the benefits of a Mexico functioning like Canada"?
As a Canadian I have always wondered about this. Why do Americans not see the dangers of having such a large vulnerable neighbor on their southern flank, especially with such a porous border and the fact that (some) Mexican have irredentist views about the southwest. America spends a fortune shoring up distant countries around the globe thousands of miles away but ignores a potential ticking time bomb on its very doorsteps.
It would kill Steve to say something nice about Mexico. No mention that Mexican GDP growth soundly outperformed the US for the past three years, and will probably do so again for the next five. It will be interesting to see what happens when the state privatizes the oil industry and Chevron and Exxon start fracturing the same rock formations that have minted a fortune in south Texas.
Even Mexican-American Cheech Marin couldn't stand Mexico, telling anyone who would listen, "I was born in East LA!"
+ Anonymous 9:31 p.m. said:
"As celebrity murderers go, the fantasy of the Mexican Shangri-La figured rather prominently in The Shawshank Redemption."
The final scene was filmed in the U.S. Virgin Islands: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Point_National_Wildlife_Refuge
+ SustainableDiversity said at 6:37 a.m.:
"You bring up an excellent point. I myself have always wondered if the tendency for endemic corruption in mexico and their penchant for deception stems from their spanish roots, or their asian ones. (possibly both?)"
What about the Arab/Muslim influences? Like the 800 year Muslim domination of Spain, and Mexico's current Arab jet set?
+ And, JWS at 3:45 p.m. today:
"It would kill Steve to say something nice about Mexico. No mention that Mexican GDP growth soundly outperformed the US for the past three years, and will probably do so again for the next five." ...
...has got to be kidding. See Steve's post on the phony "Aztec Tiger/Mexican Moment" a few days ago. I put in a late comment on how the recent deadly rains there will shrink the economy even more.
Tomorrow I'm going to see the movie "Tlatelolco" down here. Anyone want a review? Good, because I don't do reviews.
"It would kill Steve to say something nice about Mexico."
It'd be funny as hell if Sailer's son marries a Mexican.
"Even into the late 1990s, early 2000s, I would got to Hussongs or Papas y Beer. "
Yeah, it was still pretty happening in the late 80's and the nightclubs on Revolution in TJ were a popular destination for underage drinkers. Somewhere around that time the military made Tijuana off-limits to enlisted due to repeated problems with shakedowns by law enforcement. In my experience the cops back then were basically OK if you weren't a dick.
It was an entertaining drive down to Ensanada, Hussong's had a stylish sawdust floor, and you could get good seafood and cheap margaritas at some of the beach hotels.
"JWS said...
It would kill Steve to say something nice about Mexico."
Would it kill Mexico to do something un-iStevey?
To be fair to Mexico, it did produce this:
Huapango
A pretty rousing little piece composed by Jose Pablo Moncayo, and which was ripped off in the soundtrack of just about every western made in the 1960s.
"As a Canadian I have always wondered about this. Why do Americans not see the dangers of having such a large vulnerable neighbor on their southern flank, especially with such a porous border and the fact that (some) Mexican have irredentist views about the southwest. America spends a fortune shoring up distant countries around the globe thousands of miles away but ignores a potential ticking time bomb on its very doorsteps. " - it all comes down to demographics, and there is no quick fix for a nation that encouraged a TFR of 7 via state policy. The least worst thing we can do(best from our perspective) is to wall it off.
And now - cholera following the recent deadly rains:
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/cholera-kills-sickens-mexico-20403130
http://crofsblogs.typepad.com/h5n1/2013/10/mexico-measure-strengthened-to-prevent-spread-of-cholera.html
There's now 77 confirmed cholera cases in Mexico:
http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/estados/2013/hidalgo-colera-casos-956014.html
A regional health organization has issued a cholera alert for Mexico:
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=1058337&CategoryId=14091
http://www.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_view&gid=23164
Anonymous: As was mentioned in a previous iSteve post in December 2012, maybe it is time for the US to invade and install some better institutions.
That would only bring the worst of the US approach to government and policy (imagine a US-trained all Mestizo police force, for example) and obliterate any advantages of living in Mexico (they are legion) whilst worsening everything bad about living in Mexico.
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