03 mexico review

8/2/2019 03 Mexico Review

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PEOPLE : POLITICS : CULTURE : TRAVEL. FROM MEXICO. IN ENGLISH.

Womn nPotcs MvngTw GeneEquty

McansAroad HwTheyeChngngEupen Scce

Puc andPrat NneWkngTgethe tBu Mec

Pramd PowrMusc n MgcPce

UrbanRoots

A Celebrationof Mexico

Past andPresent

www.x-vw.

0018920360242

A bi-Weekly

Febuy 12, 2012

Mec Cty

V. 01 N. 03

32 pges


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Now n Cancun!

www.x-vw.


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From th ecut DrctorBy ana mara salazar:2

Th Sad itQuotbe quote b, o d bout meico :3

Out of Sght ... Out of luc?Te iue o voti it o toe ivi bodi o oe pioit i poitic dicoue.By FranCIsCO aBUnDIs anD ITzEl ramrEz

:Politics :ElECTioNS:4

emnatng JuantasTe oe o woe i meic poitic i ci.so e te ue.By TOm BUCklEy

:Politics :ElECTioNS:8

Shtr n a StormTe tow o Tutepec to te ot o meico Citi topove poit o U.s.-boud Cet aeicit. Tee oti e bout it.PhOTO Essay By kEITh DannEmIllEr:security & justice :MiGraTioN: 10

Partnrng wth th Prat Sctormeico ooi eot to od o dui te ob

ecooic cii eteed ew pe i 2012.Te outoo i copicted, but ot opee.By JOs lUIs rOmErO hICks

:economy & Finance :iNFraSTrUCTUrE: 14

Root Causssoe o meico Cit icoic buidi ve poutedoot, t to bitiou pubic t poject b te

cupto riveio.By kElly arThUr garrETT

:liFe & leisure :arT : 18

A Gathrng Around th Runsat oe o meico ot eiti ceooicite, ue ive-d etiv wi ceebte idieoucutue d ttct viito o oud te wod.By marIana h. mOnTErO:liFe & leisure :MUSiC:22

b th Numrsa ice o te tetic o ode meico :27

europan Adnturrsmeic pe e i ipct o occewodwide. ad it ot jut Cicito.By TOm BUCklEy:liFe & leisure :SPorTS:28

Comng Up ...mjo to-do i te wee d ot ed.:liFe & leisure :EVENTS:32

:on the cveTe icoic ttue o Ce IV ud te ntio at mueu i

meico Cit. Photograph To Buce/meico review

CONTeNTSMexiCOrEViEWFebu 12, 2012


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Words sometimes are not suicientto decibete beut d copeit o meico. Fo ti editio o meico re-view ou wi ee tt we ue oe potop d p i odeto povide ou bette udetdi o tee ve dieet toie.

muc bee witte bout te d epeieced b udocuet-ed it i te Uited stte, but ice te ve o 72 i-t wee ucoveed i Tuip i 2010, tee bee iceediteet i te uei d tvi o tee it te co

tou meico. a poto-e o te C Ju Dieo ete dt-ic bi to ie te cee d de ced b Cet aei-c edi to te Uited stte.

We cotiue to eie te eecto poce, d ti wee we ve eceet i o te meic vote bod uppoted b ctd ube.

Did ou ow tt Peidet Feipe Cde ecet ied te Pub-ic-Pivte Pteip lw, wic ope up te poibiit o i-ceed ituctue deveopet, i ope o eeti ite-eti ew veue o ivetet i meico? Ti ew w i ed ite Ecoo d Fice ectio.

Tee e it oot ui d owi touout te icoic itei te itoic dowtow e o meico Cit. We i to ep ou u-detd te ei o ti pubic t poject vi potopic e- i ou lie d leiue ectio. you o oud cec out ou pe-view o te ive d Cube Tj etiv i Vecu, wee tditiope-Coobi ui e te bcdop o te pticipti bd.

We o cotiue to ipove ou webite. I ou wt to ctc up obei ew d ote iotio o wt i oi o i meico,ou ow wee to o: www.mco-rw.com.

suetio d ide e w wecoe.

Ana Mara SaazarEecutive Diecto

[email protected]

Snpshts nsuveys te

g stes

2 MexiCOREVIEW : Febuy 12, 2012

mx rvw@mxrvw

Mico Rvi ES UNA PUBLICACIN QUINCENALPROPIEDAD DE YUMAC S.A. DE C.V. CON OFICINAS EN

AVENIDA DURANGO NO. 243-7O PISO, COL. ROMA, DEL.

CUAUHTMOC, C.P. 06700, TEL. 2455-5555 Y (949)680-

4336 EN CALIFORNIA USA, IMPRESO EN SPI SERVICIOS

PROFESIONALES DE IMPRESIN, S.A. DE C.V., UBICADOS

EN MIMOSAS NO. 31, COL. SANTA MARA INSURGENTES,

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Mico Rvi TRADEMARK IS PENDING.

leTTeR FroM THE ExECUTiVE dirECTor

e d i t o r i a l

Oscar McKlligaPrEsIDEnT

Aa Mara SalazarVICE PrEsIDEnT & ExECUTIVE DIrECTOr

Frado OrtizlEgal aDVIsEr

Tom BucklyEDITOr In ChIEF

Klly Arthur GarrttmanagIng EDITOr

Blak LalodassOCIaTE EDITOr

Adra SchzEDITOrIal assIsTanT

Daila GrailarT DIrECTOr

s a l e s

Vrica Gurra d AlbrtiCanCn rEPrEsEnTaTIVE

Abril d AguiacoCaBO rEPrEsEnTaTIVE

Ikr Amayalvaro Schz

U.s. rEPrEsEnTaTIVEs

C o n t r i b u t o r s

Mariaa H. Motro,Jos Luis Romro Hicks

Kith DamillrFracisco Abudis

Itzl Ramrz

b o a r d o f d i r e C t o r s

Oscar McKlligaAa Mara SalazarYurk McKlligaFrado Ortiz


5/36

TodaysLesson

iTs noT jusT

irriTaTing ThaTTeachers ...

Take The dayo and iLLThe sTreeTs,aecTing

hundreds oThousandso peopLe... iTs aLso

inuriaTingThaT They geTpaid or ThaT

day.- Vt lmt

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Yes,Weve Noticed That

Its no coincidence that people say

Mexico City has more street protests

and occupations o public spaces (somelasting years) than any other city on

the planet. No matter how much the

collective interest is aected, there is a

general ear o imposing order.

- International conlict resolution

consultant Joaqun Villalobos, a ormer

member o El Salvadors FMLN rebelorganization, agreeing with academic

journalist and ormer Foreign Relations

Secretary Jorge Castaeda that Mexico

has an aversion to conict

BuT isnT ThaT

Where diego

riVera is roM?

The onLy sTaTe ThaTraTzinger WiLL VisiT is

guanajuaTo, Which Waschosen Because iTs

The naTions BasTion ocaThoLic conserVaTisM.

in no oTher sTaTe are Thepan, The caThoLic churchand exTreMe righTWinggroups so sTrong. They

WiLL use The papaL VisiT TosTrengThen TheMseLVes

poLiTicaLLy and inLuenceThe presidenTiaL eLecTions.

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t lt w wtt

tvl t M t,

wl l vw tt

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And You Look GreAt do inG it

Y o u g o t o a p l a c e w h e r e t h e y d a n c e t h e D a n z n , a n d y o ur e a l i z e t h a t t h e p e o p l e a r e n o t t h e r e t o d r i n k o r c h a t . T h e yg o t h e r e t o d a n c e . K n o w i n g h o w i s a w a y t o o b t a i n s t a t u sa n d t h e r e s p e c t o e v e r y o n e a r o u n d y o u . T h e c o u n t r y h a s a l o t o p r o b le m s , b u t t h e D a n z n i s u n t o u c h a b l e . W h a t e v e rh a p p e n s , w e w o n t s t o p d a n c i n g . - M i g u e l n g e l Z a m u d i o A b d a l a , a n e x p e r t o n t h e o r m a l ,

e l e g a n t d a n c e o r m t h a t h e s a y s i s s t i l l t h e m o s t p o p u l a rd a n c e i n M e x i c o

Maybe It Was NeverMeant to BeFour years ago, the Republicancandidates or president weredying to get Latino voters. They

promised them things, they ell

in love with them, they even triedto pronounce a word or two inSpanish. But now they dont eventry. The love aair is over. - Jorge Ramos valos, the

Mexican-born Univision newsanchor

Did She Discuss This withEva Longoria First?

Today I believe more in El Chapo [Guzmn,Mexicos most-wanted drug lord] than ingovernments that hide the truth, painul as

it may be, who hide the cure or cancer, orAIDS, or their own beneft and enrichment.

-MexicanactressKatedelcastillo,inanextendedtwextrarantthatshelaterinsistedwas

Misinterpreted

Prchanc to Dram or Not

M f f hpp

pd b fw h f p ... ig h wh

h w b h k b d. F , f php, wh f pp f p. - Alberto Ruy Snchez, author of 23 books,including recently Elogio del insomnio,an elegy to insomnia

Febuy 12, 2012 : MexiCOREVIEW 3

hs t...


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Out of Sight

Out of Luck?MexiCANS liviNG AbROAD hv vg gh d,b f ffg pp k b gd .By Francisco aBunDis anD itZel ramreZ

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With ederal electionsast approaching, me-dia and journalistsare keen to identiy

the ront-runners and track their peror-mance in opinion polls.

This tendency naturally extends to allsorts o election-related issues. One suchissue that has seen attention slide in recentyears is absentee voting more specical-ly, the right o Mexicans living abroad to ex-ercise their surage.

Ever since it has been debated, absenteevoting or Mexicans living abroad has re-ceived considerable public support. How-ever, the proposal at the nub o the debatedid not immediately generate the politicalconsensus necessary to approve an elector-al reorm that would have granted that right.

Since 2002, the polling organization

Parametra has tracked public opinionwith regard to absentee voting rights. Thisresearch has allowed us to identiy shit-ing trends that date back 10 years, evenbeore absentee voting was approved andsteps were taken to permit Mexicans liv-ing abroad to vote.

This article only takes ederal electionsinto consideration. Current ederal elec-toral law allows or voting rom abroad in

presidential elections and prohibits absen-tee voting or ederal congressional elec-tions. The surveys reerenced in this arti-cle omitted any consideration o state laws,some o which allow or voting rom abroadin state and local elections. Michoacn, the

Federal District and Morelos are three en-tities whose constitutions have provisionsor voting rom abroad.

For the record, in 2005 Congressamended the Federal Electoral Code to au-thorize absentee voting by Mexicans livingabroad, but limited this right to presidentialelections. The reorm declared this absen-tee voting a constitutional right or Mexi-can citizens.

Prior to this, when the rst versions othe absentee voting bill were in the earli-est stages o debate in 2002, Parametra be-gan to conduct public opinion surveys with

regard to absentee voting. The rst suchpoll revealed that support or voting romabroad was slightly above 50 percent, whileopposition came in at roughly 33 percent.

The right to absentee voting is wellknown among the general public now,according to our polling data. Eight in10 Mexicans are aware that voting romabroad is legally authorized or presiden-tial elections. The closer we get to Election

Day has seen an increase in this awareness.From February 2011 to January 2012, therehas been a 17-point increase. See Chart 1.

In that same 11-month period, however,we recorded only a slight increase in thosewho support the right to vote rom abroad

in presidential elections. This support hasonly bumped upward 2 percent. Even so,the percentage o those who express sup-port or the right to vote rom abroad is con-siderably higher (76 percent) than thosewho oppose the right to this type o absen-tee voting (15 percent). See Chart 2.

Our ongoing surveys since 2002 haveindicated that support or the measure hasexhibited a steady increase, although thesustained upward trend has slowed in re-cent years. See Chart 3.

The rst impression upon examiningthe data might suggest that support or

absentee voting is broadly accepted with-out reservation, but a closer investigationallows us to see that there is genuine reti-cence with regard to the concept.

One example o this uncertainty is thatsupport or the right to vote rom abroadis in considerable measure restricted topresidential elections. In 2004, 44 per-cent o those surveyed thought the rightto vote rom abroad should be limited

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to presidential elections and this way othinking has risen to 48 percent this year.

However, the surveys do indicate thatmore people are taking positions on the is-sue as the percentage o those respondingthat they dont have an opinion or declinedto answer shrank by 11 percent since 2004.See Chart 4.

Another aspect o this issue is the right

to vote as compared to the right to be vot-ed or. It has been clear rom the start thatthe public nds a clear dierentiation be-tween the two and has not expressed thesame support or a Mexican citizen liv-ing abroad to stand or election. In 2004(20 percent) and 2005 (29 percent), on-ly a small percentage o those polled be-lieved Mexicans should have the right tovote rom abroad as well as the right to

stand or election despite living abroad.Actually, in the months immediately pri-or to the enactment o the Absentee Vot-ing reorms in 2005, 26 percent believedMexicans should have neither the right tovote rom abroad nor the right to stand orelection while living abroad.See Chart 5.

Public opinion with regard to the righto candidates to campaign abroad has

been primarily negative since weve beentracking it. Our interpretation o this datasuggests that there was general ignoranceabout how election campaigns might beconducted abroad as well as uncertaintyabout the impact o the vote o Mexicansabroad. Certainly the generally low regardthat the public holds or political partiesalso impacted opinion about the potentialright o candidates to conduct campaigns

abroad. In both 2004 and 2005, more thanhal o those surveyed said they wereagainst campaigning abroad.See Chart 6.

By 2011, public opinion against cam-paigns in oreign countries had only all-en slightly (down to 45 percent) while sup-port or such an initiative had barely risen(35 percent). See Chart 7.

At the same time, the Federal Electoral

Institute, or IFE, spending to promote ab-sentee voting last year was budgeted at 96million pesos. (The IFE manages the pub-licly unded ederal elections and is man-dated to exercise control over all election-related spending.)

This 96 million pesos actually repre-sents barely one-third o what the IFEspent ahead o the 2006 presidential elec-tion. One o the reasons that the spending

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was slashed so dramatically is that so ewMexicans living abroad actually exercisedtheir right to vote absentee. Only 33,131 ab-sentee ballots were cast in the prior presi-dential election. This despite the act thatthe IFE estimated that over 11 million Mex-icans o voting age were living abroad. Intrying to assess the potential number ovoters living abroad, Parametra ound

that 41 percent o those surveyed last yearsaid they have a amily member o votingage (18 or older) living abroad. See Chart 8

One consideration that might explainthe low numbers o absentee ballots in2006 is that there was broad consensusthat absentee ballots would have littleimpact on the election. In 2005, over one-third o those polled asserted that votersliving abroad would have little impact on

the outcome o the election. See Chart 9.Heading into the upcoming presi-

dential election cycle, this opinion haschanged somewhat. Although a signi-cant number o respondents say they arenot sure o the impact absentee ballotingmight have, over one-third now believe oneparty or the other will surely benet romabsentee voting. All our recent polling da-

ta indicates that more people believe theormer ruling Institutional Revolution-ary Party (PRI) will benet the most, ol-lowed by the National Action Party (PAN)which has won the past two presidentialelections. The letist opposition Party othe Democratic Revolution (PRD) is a dis-tant third. See Charts 10 and 11.

In conclusion, our analysis o the past10 years o polling we have conducted

indicates that with the Absentee VotingLaw now on the books there is consider-ably more support or and greater under-standing o the rights o Mexican citizensliving abroad to participate in elections.

However, the limited participation oabsentee voters in 2006 has allowed theissue to all out o the headlines and be-come a low priority or the political par-

ties. It is our expectation that this trendwill mean that voting rights or Mexi-cans living abroad including the rightto stand or election will not be extend-ed any time soon.

F abd is the associate director oParametra S.A. de C.V., a frm dedicated to pub-lic opinion, social science and marketing research.

Itzel Ramrez is the media and communicationsdirector o Parametra.

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ElECTioNS

J

osena Vzquez Mota is vy-ing to become the irst e-

male presidential nominee oa major party in Mexico. In theFederal District, two o the three major par-ties are set to nominate emale candidatesor City Hall.

For the irst time ever, the AttorneyGenerals Oice is headed by a woman,Marisela Morales.

Though these landmarks are positive de-velopments, they come nearly 60 years a-ter women won the right to vote in Mexico(1953) and gender inequality continues topervade many areas o society. This inequal-ity remains especially pronounced in poli-

tics and, unortunately, some women seemto have willingly played a part in reducingthe eort toward gender equality in politics.

SpeAKInG UpIn the 1990s, womens rights activists inMexico staged demonstrations in whichthey issued demands or a gender quota sys-tem. They stated plainly that access to the

political system was a dicult and compli-cated process that had to be changed.

Their voices were heard beore the endo the decade and the Federal ElectoralCode now eatures the ollowing clause inArticle 219:

From the total number o registrationrequests or deputies or senators submittedby political parties or coalitions beore theFederal Electoral Institute, at least 40 per-cent o them must be or candidates o thesame gender, aiming or parity.

It was hoped that this developmentwould translate to a noticeable increase oemale legislators in the bicameral ederalCongress. This has not been the case. All

kinds o chicanery has been used to mini-mize the presence o emale legislators ineither house o Congress.

Women have worked hard within Mexi-cos political parties, writes Yoloxchitl CasasChousal in the August 2011 edition o Amer-icas Quarterly. But their hard work has beenrepaid by tricks and bending o the rules.

Women have appeared as substitutesor senators and deputies in party lists or

districts where those parties didnt havea suicient base o support, wrote Casas

Chousal. In other words, women were in-cluded in the electoral process, but a conlu-ence o unavorable circumstances ultimate-ly prevented them rom entering Congress.

In many cases, women were simplylisted in districts or electoral constituen-cies that strategists knew would go downin deeat.

A ew months ahead o the 2009 eder-al mid-term elections, ederal Deputy Mar-icela Contreras complained that partieswere not adhering to the intent o the law.

All too oten, women only appear onthe representational lists instead o getting

nominated or direct election districts, shesaid. Men dominate in the party selectionprocess and women never are really giventrue access to the election process.

In Mexico, over 200 legislative seatsare designated by the overall vote totalsthat each party receives. Beorehand, theparty submits a list o candidates andwinners are then seated according totheir place on the list. Women were oten

EliminatingJuanitasAN eleCTiON TRibUNAl DeCiSiON p f gd q w hd f h j .By tom Buckley Photos: mexico review


POliTiCS ElECTioNS


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stacked at the bottom o these lists andthus unlikely to have a serious chance omaking it into Congress.

SHAMeFUL ReSIGnATIOnSThe 61st Legislature (2009-12) has beentermed the most shameul in recent con-

gressional history by supporters o gen-der equality.One day ater the new session was gav-

eled to order, eight emale legislators hand-ed in resignation letters, each with vagueexcuses or why they needed to step down.The women represented the ull spectrumo political parties but each had won via di-rect election. Their resignations were ap-proved and the women stepped aside, eachone leaving their legislative seat to a man,their designated substitute.

Writes Casas Chousal: It turned outthat these substitutes were their hus-

bands, brothers, relatives and even politi-cal patrons. It came to light that just inthe interest o honoring the gender quota political parties had included women intheir lists but were not actually interestedin advancing emale political participationor politically benecial legislation to wom-en, who amount to more than hal o Mex-icos population.

Beore the end o the year, ve more e-male legislators had resigned, each one re-placed by a man. Activists were outragedand political commentators skewered the

parties or making a mockery o the genderequality law. Although there was talk thatthe electorate had been misled, there wasnothing legally to be done.

The women who had taken part in thecharade were ridiculed as Juanitas. Thisterm was derived rom Mexico City boroughhall candidate Raael Acosta who went bythe nickname Jaunito. Acosta was runningor the Iztapalapa borough leadership postin 2009 with the Labor Party while the Par-ty o the Democratic Revolution split over itsinternal selection process.

Former presidential candidate Andrs

Manuel Lpez Obrador than made a back-room deal in which Acosta agreed to acceptsupport rom the Lpez Obrador action butin exchange he would resign his seat aterwinning and hand power over to Clara Bru-gada, Lpez Obradors preerred candidatewho had been shut out by the PRD leadership.

Columnists and commentators de-cried this act o voter deception and thereduction o democracy to puppet politics.

Juanito won the election and soon there-ater resigned his seat. At the same time asthese shenanigans were taking place in lo-cal Mexico City politics, the emale legisla-tors in the ederal Congress were steppingaside to allow men to take their seats. Thepress took to calling the women Juanitasand the term has been broadly accepted to

describe the practice.

STOppInG THe CHARADeMara del Carmen Alans, a judge on

the Federal Electoral Tribunal, in 2012called on the political parties to end thecharade, encouraging Congress to revisitthe electoral code and prevent these alsecandidacies.

Alans and other judges on the tribunalconcurred that the Juanitas had not vio-lated any law but that it was clearly a ques-tion o ethics. In October 2011, the Mexico

City daily Reorma oered a critical exam-ination o the work done by the men whohad replaced the Juanitas. Six o the 13men were among the leaders in most leg-islative sessions missed and eight o themhad missed more than 84 votes each in on-ly 10 months on the job. The study conclud-ed that the replacements had contributedvery little to Congress.

That same month during estivities tocelebrate the 58th anniversary o womenssurage in Mexico, Institutional Revolu-tionary Party (PRI) Deputy Beatriz Pare-

des announced she would sponsor a bill toprevent uture Juanitas.Instead, the organization Red Mujeres

en Plural led a complaint with the FederalElectoral Tribunal saying that the interpre-tation o the original gender quota law hadbeen vague and ambiguous to date. The suitsaid womens political rights were liable toelimination or restriction by decisions tak-en by party leadership.

The tribunal issued a ruling on Nov. 30that emale candidates on ederal ballotswere required to list emale substitutes ontheir ocial candidate registration orms.

Thus, even i a emale lawmaker resignedater winning election, the seat would re-main in the hands o a emale.

Within short order, the ruling was chal-lenged by men who argued that the deci-sion was discriminatory. The appeal waseventually led by members o the PRI,an underhanded slap in the ace o Pare-des who had been the PRI national presi-dent only the year beore. Another top PRI

lawmaker, Sen. Mara de los ngeles More-no (hersel a ormer party president), crit-icized the appeal.

On Jan. 18, the tribunal rejected the ap-peal and declared an end to the Juanitas.Judge Manuel Gonzlez Oropeza told re-porters: Our ruling is nal and legislativesubstitutes must be o the same gender as

the ocial candidate or legislator in orderto put an end to the deceit.Activists and emale legislators cele-

brated the decision. The Federal ElectoralInstitute (IFE) declared that it would re-double eorts to make sure parties com-plied with the gender quota law. The IFEannounced that it had hired a group o sev-en experts to oversee its eorts with regardto the law.

One aspect o the law the IFE intends toscrutinize is the clause mandating that allpolitical parties must spend at least 2 per-cent o their budgets on political instruc-

tion and tutelage or women.The parties have just begun ormulat-ing their candidate lists or the 2012 ed-eral elections. Observers and analysts willno doubt be eager to assess how each par-ty approaches its responsibility to practicegender equality.

I Mexico can make strides or realgender equality, one would expect thatCongress could tackle more avorablereorms and laws or women, even dealingwith issues such as interamily violence,emicide, sexual assault and genuine

equality or everyone.



12/36

Shelterin a Storm

MiGRANT ReFUGe d h g d dd .Photos: keith dannemiller

Joe guio, 38, topped t te C s Ju Dieo ete e oute o i oe i soote, E svdo, to lo aee.


SeCURiTy&JUSTiCe MiGraTioN


13/36

Illegal immigration tends to be a hot-button issue in the United Statesand the quadrennial election cycle under way north o the borderguarantees it wont be too ar removed rom the headlines. Emigra-tion rom Mexico is well documented, rom traditional sending com-

munities in Michoacn, Zacatecas and Oa xaca to orced outmigration dueto drought, natural disaster and dicult economic times.

But Mexico is also a corridor or migrants rom Central America who

brave hardships, dearth and criminal elements in hopes o reaching theUnited States. Their path is well known and well traveled. Freight trainsweighed down with these intrepid expatriates travel north rom the Gua-temala border through Oaxaca and into the State o Mexico. The itinerantsthen typically make their way to a railroad hub north o Mexico City to con-tinue their journey toward the border.

Here in Lechera, in the State o Mexico municipality o Tultepec, thewayarers can nd a shelter where they can recover rom their tribulations,be they hunger and atigue or muggings.

In 2009, the Casa San Juan Diego was opened to provide reuge to theweary migrants. Once here, they can nd ood, showers and a mattress torest up briefy beore continuing their journey. For those who decide to endthe voyage and return home, the sta at the shelter will help them makearrangements.

The local Catholic diocese actually opened the shelter as a parish hall in2008 to provide religious services to the aithul in this hardscrabble area.The railroad tracks run so close by that soon ater the shelter opened, mi-grants began stopping by asking or ood and sanctuary.

Though the Casa was retted to house 50 people, it is not out o the or-dinary to see 1,50 0 migrants pass through in a single week. The plethora otransients has produced confict with the neighbors and last August localresidents staged a protest demanding that the shelter be closed or moved.Migrants were accused o taking over the streets, begging or money, com-mitting petty crimes, deecating in public places and taking drugs, churchocials said.

Within a week, a migrant was murdered, highlighting another aspect othe reality in Lechera. Criminal gangs, sometimes with help rom the au-thorities, kidnap migrants and demand ransoms rom their relatives livingin the United States. The gangs have accosted and threatened shelter op-erators, too. According to news reports, two policemen detained a 19-year-old Guatemalan migrant and handed him over to individuals who accusedhim o assault. He was later ound murdered near the shelter.

Sta members at the shelter have received death threats, while humantrackers have staked out the acility, and some have even posed as mi-grants to gain access, according to an Aug. 22 National Catholic Report-er article.

In December, residents again staged a protest demanding that the shel-ter be closed. They dismantled our makeshit huts made by migrants bythe side o the train tracks nearby the shelter and set re to some o the mi-grants belongings. Amnesty International stepped in, complaining o a pat-tern o intimidation and harassment against the shelter.

While controversy continues to swirl around the center, the migrantscontinue to arrive on their path northward. Their spirit, perseveranceand humanity though perhaps obscured or overlooked by their pres-ence on the margins o society is still evident despite their hard luckstories and suering.

Photojournalist Keith Dannemiller takes us inside the Casa Juan Di-ego shelter and his images provide a substantive glimpse at the people toooten overlooked by those engaged in the rancorous debate.

mExICO rEVIEW



14/36

MiGraTioN

JOS eliAS AlvARADO, 46,

Choutca, Honduras:When I saw

you I thought maybe you were

doing some kind o documentary

to help the shelter. While you were

taking the photos, I was watching a

movie on television, but also

thinking about my journey so ar. I

let Honduras 15 days ago. I was

assaulted by two armed guys near

Tenosique, Tabasco, who took all

the money I had, about 1,000 pesos

($80). Since I got here to the shelterits been good because I have been

able to eat and rest. Ive been here

fve days now. I think I will

probably leave tomorrow along

with fve riends.

Two nicu it ve beide te iod tc beid te ete.

sete viito wit i ie to ue te spe poe to cotct etive i te Uited stte.


SeCURiTy&JUSTiCe


15/36

JOS lUiS PORTillO, 19, San

Mgu, e Saador (at ft):I saw

you taking photos o some guys in

the patio, and wanted to ask you to

take one o me and my wie

(Damaris Yarithza Murillo, 22) but

was too shy to ask. Then I worked

up the courage even though I

imagined you probably wouldnt

come back with the photos or we

would be gone when you did. Im

glad I did fnally talk to you

because my wie and I have been

living together or nine months

now and this is the frst photo we

have o us together. We didnt have

a wedding so there werent any

photos rom that. In the same way

that I am watching over her, Im

going to take care o this photo.

iviS OSORiO, 23,Con, Honduras (cntr rght, n rd shrt and grn pants): I was thinking about how alone Iam here, and on this journey. I elt good though, when you were taking the photos. I have no idea what is going to

happen to me between here and the border. I thought that maybe I was giving you my last look. I want to get back to

Texas because thats where my girl, my newborn son and my Mom are. Nathan is 3 months old. I was deported two

months ago when he was only 1 month old. I was working almost every day, even Sundays as a day laborer. I have

lived in Texas since I was 11 and I need to get back there. I have an email address and a Facebook page.



16/36

his years edition o the World Economic Fo-rum in Davos, Switzerland, addressed practi-cal recommendations or boosting public-pri-vate partnerships that support green growthas part o its Climate Change Initiative.

Mexico will be well equipped with thenew Public-Private Partnerships Law that

was enacted by President Felipe Caldernearlier this year.Besides being a key element or the

countrys economic development, inra-structure investment is essential or eco-nomic growth primarily because o the jobscreated. Inrastructure investment pro-vides an impact that cuts across 30 eco-nomic sectors o the national economy.Yet all too oten, governments ace a grow-ing demand or public services and inra-structure that overwhelms their budgetarycapacities. Typically, the unding require-

ments go well beyond government capa-city to tap into public debt.

SCARCe ReSOURCeSAlthough the Mexican government has con-tinuously increased the amount o resour-ces available or inrastructure develop-ment, overall investment levels are onlyequivalent to 4.6 percent o gross nationalproduct (GNP) and have proven to be in-sucient to kick-start sustained econom-ic development.

In addition, the extent o public services

in Mexico does not approach universal cov-erage. Such services require signiicant andscarce tax resources but there is no argu-ment that they are essential or the improve-ment o living conditions across the country.

Inrastructure investments will cer-tainly improve economic perormance,mainly through road construction and in-vestment in social areas, such as improv-ing access to public health services.

Partnering

with thePrivate SectorA NeW lAW pd g v ff dvp wh xg pb .By Jos luis romero hicks

T


eCONOMy&FiNANCe iNFraSTrUCTUrE


17/36

Within this context, the support orpublic-private partnerships has helpedcreate nance development models thatdo not depend on taxpayer unds.

SUCCeSS STORIeS ABOUnDPublic-private partnerships (PPP) irst

won acceptance in the early 1980s in Eng-land as a means to improve and expandboth inrastructure and private servicesmore eciently.

Today there is an impressive list o coun-tries that utilize this type o investmentscheme. In England, PPP projects encom-pass 14 percent o public investment, with amajority o these projects ound in the ieldo inrastructure. Success stories can also beound in Spain, Canada and Chile.

The Organisation or Economic Coop-eration and Development provides a suc-cinct denition o what comprises a pub-

lic-private partnership: An agreementbetween the government and one or moreprivate partners (which may include theoperators and the inanciers) accordingto which the private partners deliver theservice in such a manner that the servicedelivery objectives o the government arealigned with the prot objectives o the pri-vate partners and where the eectivenesso the alignment depends on a sucienttranser o risk to the private partners.

Countries throughout the world areaced with tax, budgetary and public in-

vestment resource restrictions. This real-ity has increased interest in PPPs becausethey oer collaborative and ample alterna-tives or the provision o inrastructure andother public services.

LOw-RISK OppORTUnITYAs we have explained, public-privatepartnerships reer to agreements wherethe public sector can join orces with theprivate sector to produce inrastructureworks and services traditionally providedby the government.

These agreements are seen as very at-tractive to both private and public par-ties. They are attractive to the govern-ment since private nance in inrastruc-ture does not increase public expenditurenor does it require incurring more publicdebt. Furthermore, such investments canbecome a source o public revenue. At thesame time, these investments representa low risk business opportunities or therE

UTErsPhOTO



18/36

private sector in areas previously reservedor public investment.

Under a PPP ormula, the private sectoris responsible or the design and construc-tion o public inrastructure. The privatesector also bears the risks associated withthe project; usually o a nancial, commer-cial, technical and operational nature. Inexchange, it receives nancial benets orproviding the public service through a -nancial arrangement with the government.

Furthermore, in theory there may or maynot be an investment property transer tothe State (this is not true in Mexicos case).The public sector is responsible to the pub-lic or the quality o provided services andmust guarantee its provision under equi-table conditions.

The main beneits attributed to PPPagreements can be listed as ollows: the ca-pacity to provide a service at a lower cost

and in less time; the possibility o provid-ing better quality services while also guar-anteeing acceptable service levels duringlong periods o time; better risk projectmanagement; and, the capacity to attracttechnological innovations and provide fex-ible public services. In some instances, thenancial structure can actually attract -

nancial resources at more avorable con-ditions than i it were carried out entirelyas a public project.

OpeRATIOnAL eFFICIenCYThe type o projects that are attractive asPPP arrangements range rom energy ortransport inrastructure to potable wa-ter and sewage works as well as irrigationschemes. Health and educational serviceprojects also t neatly in this category. Oth-er projects that are being unded by PPPsinclude public registries, in addition to in-

ormation and invoice collection especial-ly when it is obvious that the private sectorcan be more ecient.

Public-private partnerships require po-litical commitment, a stable, strong andreliable institutional ramework or pri-vate investment and a private sector thatis committed to long-term objectives thatinclude providing high-quality inrastruc-ture as well as public services.

In countries throughout the world thathave adopted PPPs, the main supportingarguments therein point toward obtaining

better operational eciency and overcom-ing budgetary restrictions. Better operation-al eciency is achieved because the privatesector has more quality incentives and moretechnical capacity or the design, construc-tion, operation and maintenance o capitalgoods with prot. Also, the requirement thatthe private sector partner complies withpayment schedules creates a motive or ast-er construction and or better maintenanceduring the lie o the PPP contract.

The argument about budgetary con-straints is based on never-ending pres-sures to reduce public spending to meet

scal policy objectives while acing inra-structure decits.

new LeGAL FRAMewORKThe idea o using PPPs in Mexico was rstentertained during the early stages o Pres-ident Vicente Foxs administration (2000-06). During his tenure in government, sev-eral projects where executed but under a

legal ramework supported by executiveadministrative regulations, rather thanaccording to laws on the books.

In November 2009, President Caldernintroduced legislation to create theLey deAsociaciones Pblico Privadas(Public-Pri-vate Partnerships Law) to provide the le-gal ramework or projects that eature the

participation o public and private nan-cial resources. Congress approved the billlate last year and Calder signed it into lawon Jan. 15.

Mexicos PPP Law seeks to providea new legal ramework that will supportpublic and private resources oriented tonew inrastructure projects to addressthe needs o Mexicos growing populationacross the country. It also seeks to createjobs and generate economic growth. De-bate and lobbying about the initiative un-derlined the nancial relie burden on thebudgetary constraints.

Until recently, inrastructure develop-ment in Mexico had been carried out ex-clusively by direct government investmentor by government concessions to privatecompanies. Concessions have been mostrequently used in an important number oseaports, airports, highways, water treat-ment plants and railroads.

KeY DIFFeRenCeSIt is important to note that a PPP arrangementand a concession are not the same thing.

A concession contract typically stipu-lates that the private operator pays the gov-ernment or the right to manage a publicoperation. In contrast, a PPP deal normal-ly establishes that the government pays theprivate operator or services rendered. Al-so, in a concession the risks transerred tothe public partner are generally higher thanunder a PPP, due to the act that in a con-cession the revenue is derived rom direct-ly charging users or the service.

The PPP Law seeks to promote morepublic services and the development o in-rastructure projects under a simple rule:

the private sector nances, builds and pro-vides the public service, while the govern-ment commits to pay or those services,usually via annual budget outlays.

OIL SeCTOR exCLUDeDMexicos PPP Law will only apply to newprojects. This has not been the case in oth-er countries where this scheme has also

TOm

BUCklEy/mExICOrEVIEW


eCONOMy&FiNANCe iNFraSTrUCTUrE


19/36

been used or the improvement o exist-ing inrastructure.

In Mexico, contracts will encompass upto 40 years o private management, aterwhich the inrastructure property and op-eration will revert to the State. It is impor-tant to note that due to constitutional re-strictions, oil industry projects have been

excluded rom the PPP Law.Mexicos new legal ramework coversall projects in need o a long-term con-tractual relationship between governmentand private operators, including applied re-search and/or technological innovation.

Under a PPP deal, the government willassign sucient budget resources on anannual basis, thus avoiding the necessityo allocating up ront the ull amount re-quired by each project. In this manner, thescal decit should not be increased.

These schemes are expected to whetthe nancial sectors appetite. Since nal

payment will be the ederal governmentsresponsibility, the implied low risk will en-hance each projects nancial viability.

As such, the nancial sector should nat-urally increase the number o portolios

that eature inrastructure developmentprojects in Mexico.

enCOURAGInG pROpOSALSA particular advantage in Mexicos PPPLaw is the incentive provided to privatecompanies to design and propose to gov-

ernment unsolicited projects.Should the government approve a pro-posal and should the particular companynot participate in the tender or not be a-vored by the process, it will be reimbursedby government or all expenses incurred inthe projects design.

Mexicos new PPP legal rameworksbenets include:

:Incentives to attract state-o-the-arttechnology, entrepreneurial initiatives,private resources or public projectsand better project management:Improved legal certainty, both or pri-

vate investors and government oi-cials in projects that by nature involvelengthy development processes andlong execution periods:Shorter construction periods

:Increased promotion o road, train, air-port and seaport projects that are

The success o PPPs largely dependson a solid institutional ramework, well-developed procedures to identiy, evalu-ate and tender projects, successul nego-tiations to ensure an adequate sharing o

risks between the public and private sec-tors and the availability o private nanc-ing or projects.

It has long been obvious and requent-ly decried that Mexico urgently requiresstructural reorms to reach its potential de-velopment plateau.

The PPP Law is clearly an importantstep toward better economic regulationthat will serve to attract new private inves-tors who will be eager to commit nancialresources or our economic growth. At theend o the day, it is the public at large thatwill benet rom increased public services

and stronger economic growth.J l r h is managing partner o

Romero Hicks & Galindo-Abogados, a legal, fnan-cial and public policy consulting frm.

Cablecom is a provider video, high-speed internet and phone services.It offers a variety of entertainment and communications services toresidential and commercial customers.

About us in www.cablecom.com.mxWHATEVER YOU WANT AND MORE A

Cablecom, the best in telecommunications

and more at home.


20/36

E

ven long-time wanderers aroundMexico City cant shake the no-tion that theres more going onaround them than meets the eye.

As you stroll your way through the seduc-tive urban labyrinth, theres always a eel-ing, as Rod Serling used to say beore epi-sodes o The Twilight Zone, that youremoving through a land o both shadow andsubstance, and that the ourth dimension,time, is more at work on these streets thanelsewhere.

Sculptor Jos Rivelino Moreno Va-lle thinks so. Thats why he abricated 250

giant plant roots and attached them to adozen or so iconic structures in the capital.

El Caballito, Manuel Tolss 18th-cen-tury statue o a mounted Charles IV o

Spain, is now rmly rooted to the suracebelow by a twisting length o polyurethane,thermoplastics, steel, resin and berglass,and will continue to be so through Feb. 29.

Behind it, more such tubing crawlsalong the pavement toward the Nation-al Museum o Art, beore climbing up theront wall and disappearing into a balco-ny in one oshoot, a window in anoth-er. To the artists credit, the creations are

convincingly rhizome-like in their yellow-streaked whiteness.

Nearby, a y-shaped root structure pos-itively grips the old Corpus Christi con-

vent. The Franz Mayer Museum is simi-larly clutched. Couples outside the Pala-cio de Bellas Artes now have a new placeto sit, where the rootstock hugs the groundbeore looping its way toward and then upthe aade.

The combined length o the aux rootsis 1.2 kilometers, and were asked to imag-ine that they are but the visible sproutingsrom a longer underground continuity that

Root CausesA PUbliC ART PROJeCT h p fd fmx c .By kelly arthur garrett


f&esue arT


21/36

Te itoic p o Tteoco, oe to

meoeic et etpce i pe-Coubi

tie, od i o te oii ped 14 ite o

te rce poject. Viibe ee e te plaza d lasTrs Culturas (oeoud), ite o te 1968oveet ce o poteti tudet; te

ui o Tteoco, eibo o meico Cit

pedeceo Teoctit, but oveed epte;

te Tmlo d Satiago (uppe et coe),dedicted to Tteeoco pto st. Je d it

odeed buit b Cot i te 16t cetu; d te

oe Forig Rlatios Scrtariat buidi (uppeet coe) tt ow oue te tio uiveit

cutu cete d ueu, d te ipeive

Btei t coectio. Te poto t te e et i

tit edei o ow oot wi cib te

Moumt to th Rvolutio.

connects several sites in the Tlatelolco ar-ea in the northeast part o the city to theMonument to the Revolution just west othe Historic Center.

Mexico, says the artist, who goes byRivelino, is like a huge plant with thou-sands o roots that have never stoppedgrowing.

Whether the vegetable kingdom is thebest place to nd a metaphor or MexicoCity may be open to debate. But Rivelino issurely onto something in paying attentionto the roles o connectedness and continu-ity in understanding the city.

As our veteran wanderer o the streets isaware, the connectedness works horizon-tally; whats going on across town is part owhat youre experiencing in the spot whereyou are. That eect can be subtle, but al-so as obvious as a protest march along themain boulevard o Paseo de la Reorma

clogging trac on the Ro San Joaquin ex-pressway kilometers away. And, o course,our street explorers very presence chang-es the locale he or she is observing, in a sorto urban maniestation o the uncertain-ty principle.

The continuity works vertically,through time. Rivelino seems to agreewith the architect Hugh Newell Jacob-sens observation that to look at a city is toread the hopes, aspirations and pride o ev-eryone who built it. But much o what hesays about his Races project (races is

Spanish or roots) is uncomortably closeto a hackneyed call to remember your na-tions history.

With the possible exception o the Plazade las Tres Culturas in Tlatelolco, the siteshe chose or his installations (government,church or high art venues) lean toward o-cial history, and away rom peoples history.

The idea o the project is to connect themost important points in terms o the histo-ry o Mexico, says Rivelino, who was bornin the state o Jalisco in 1973. It narrates ahistory o Mexico rom my particular pointo view and through my choice o spaces.

Indeed, Rivelinos installation, und-ed entirely by the private sector, meetsall the criteria o a public art project in to-days environment: Its inoensive, atten-tion-getting without being aggressive, easyon the eyes, mildly amusing, nationalistic,and charged with just the right amount oaccessible signicance.

But Rivelino would probably dis-miss the dichotomy between ocial and

peoples history as irrelevant in this con-text. Theres not a single place in the cen-ter o this city where you can walk withoutbeing aware o what Mexicans have doneover so many years, he says. We have totry to nd a way or modern art and the na-tions history to live together.

Also, Races does strike a chord. Andmost people seem to like the way it looks.They like sitting on the roots where theycan, and having their picture taken atop oralongside o one. And the idea o the repos-itories o the nations heritage being con-nected to a root system over which we allwalk, and to which we all contribute, is anappealing one, ater all.

What Im hoping is that the exposi-tion encourages people to realize that theroots they see connect the sites to count-less more roots under the surace, he

says. Every one holds a story o some-body who experienced sadness and joy,ailure and success.

Its the city, then, as a living, breathingorganism. A city is not something or peo-ple to live in, but something made out o thepeople who live in it, past and present. And,says Rivelino, its Races job to show that.

What art like this always tries to dois communicate that we human beingsarent nished yet, he says. And neitheris the city.

I nothing else, Rivelinos eort has giv-en Mexico City residents and visitors an

excuse to get out o their cars and routinesand explore the sites where the roots are.The odds o discovery are thus increased.They certainly were or Rivelino himsel.

In the days that I was assembling theexposition, I realized that or every milli-meter you walk in this city there will bethousands o surprises, he says. You maythink you know this city, you may think youknow it pretty well. But you dont.

rEUTErsPhOTO



22/36

Te bed palacio d Bllas Arts (et),

meico peie pubic ie t cete, ie t

te et ed o aed P, te it pot-

Coquet pubic pce, wic i ed o te

pop tee (o) tt oii too oot

tee. Te Be ate ituctue w o

ev we cotuctio tted i 1904 tt te

oud ude it oticeb. Te revoutio

ted wo, oced dei ce d deed

copetio uti 1934. now te veue peet

wod-c ope d cocet i te i ,d it-te but iepeive ecit i e

oo, te s mue Poce.

Te oot-ipped de o 18t-cetu covet ow elCovto d Corus Christi (beow), woe ite oce icuded decedt o mocteu, it diect co te ouet to 19tcetu Peidet Beito Jue t te oute ede o aed P.Te e w epeci d it b te 1985 etque, but o-deed edeveopet poject ow put te od covet de i tedow o two cpe, oe o wic i te ew oe o te Foeiretio secetit.

Te buidi tt oued te Couictio d Pubic Wo

secetit (bove), buit i 1904 dui te ei o Poiio D, bece

te ew oe o te natioal Musum of Art i 1981, d ow oue

o te tio tepiece o cooi tie tou te 20t

cetu, we tepo eibitio o cotepo tit. O te

P To i ot o te ueu it Ce IV o spi o oebc,

ooi co te teet to te equ ipeive oe edqute o

te mii secetit (ot ow, d oote).

kEllyarThUrgar

rET/mExICOrEVIEW

as

sOCIaTEDPrEssPhOTOs


f&esue arT


23/36

O te oppoite ide o te ad P te E-Coveto

de Copu Citi, i te cetuie-od P de st

Vecu, te Fraz Mayr Musum (it) opeed it doo i

1986 o ite wee opit oce eited. Oe o te ew

rce ecipiet tt i ot oveet buidi, te

ueu oue te eteive coectio o it oude,

ge eocted i meico, wic icude Euope we

meic cooi piece.

ned o te eveed 19t-cetu Cubpoet, te Jos Mart Cultural Ctr bee

oc poit o oci ctivit d te titicicied ice 1976, wit it ib, tete,

eeti pce d t eie. Tod teodet buidi i cuced b it pedeti-

uied uoudi, wic icude te ue

meto hido ttio, ew metobu top,d te coveece o eve ut-wide

veue.

kEllyarThUrgarrET/mExICOrEVIEW

rEUTErsPhOTO

kEllyarThUrgarrET/mExICOrEVIEW



24/36

A Gathering

Around the RuinsTHe Five-DAy CUMbRe TAJN FeSTivAl w gv cf, cf tvb,Bk d p-h . B b h .By mariana h. montero


f&esue

f&esue MUSiC


25/36

Te Tj Vive ittie etv t te E Tj pid (ci pe) i iit o te Cube Tj etiv, oied b so Bb(iet), wic te pce mc 17-21 t te ite i te tte o Vecu. Te uic ct, icudi te e-uited Cie, wo dte bc to te 1980beoe rock en espaolw coo, wi peo i eb cutu p.

On the lower slopes othe Papanteca moun-tains in northern Vera-cruz, between the cit-ies o Tuxpan and Xa-lapa, lies an area calledthe Totonacapan, ater

the Totonaca culture rooted there sincethe 13th century.

The cultural center here, past and pres-

ent, is the town o Papantla. It is in Papant-la where the traditional voladores ritual,in which fyers with ropes around their an-kles descend rom a righteningly tall polein a wide arc, is most rmly established.UNESCO has declared the ceremony anIntangible Cultural Heritage.

Nearby rise the ruins o El Tajn, builtby the Totonacas predecessors, who dom-inated the area rom the 9th to the 13th

centuries. Relatively well preserved, ElTajn looks and eels like no other pre-Co-lumbian site in Mesoamerica. Elaboratecarving and the amous niched pyramidgive the place its own aesthetic, and seemto make it easier or visitors to connect tothe place on a spiritual level.

Even so, and despite its 1992 UNES-CO designation as a World Heritage Site,El Tajn was not one o Mexicos more pop-

ular archaeological sites through the endo the 20th century. Unlike Teotihuacan, itwasnt near the capital. And unlike Uxmalor Tulum or Monte Albn, it wasnt part oan established tourist corridor. It ranked17th among sites visited.

Things began to turn around in 2000when Salomn Bazbaz, who had workedwith Peter Gabriel on the World o Music,Arts and Dance estivals, organized the rst

Cumbre Tajn in the Totonacapan. Cum-bre means summit, but it wasnt thekind with heads o state or nance min-isters. It was a celebration o indigenousidentity, and identity in general, throughart, ood, music, dance, traditional medi-cine and belies.

We decided to do it because there wasnothing like it in Mexico, Bazbaz told merecently. It was all new to us, a estival that

combined cultural activities with the op-tion o camping.That rst Cumbre Tajn was supposed

to be a one-o aair. But the 13th editionwill take place March 17-21 this year: Thatlongevity is in itsel is a testimony to thesuccess o the event, and its unique mis-sion among estivals.

Aware o that, Bazbaz recalled a com-ment made about the Cumbre by Juan



26/36

Simbrn, one o the elders, or tatas, hesworked with: Its as i we planted a seedthat all o a sudden developed into a healthyruit tree and today has become orest.

More than 5,000 local and interna-tional artists will attend the event, host-ed by the Totonaca community and tak-ing place in the main square o Papantla,

the El Tajn site, and a nearby 17-acre parkcalled Takilhsukut, where most o theshows, ceremonies, workshops and gas-tronomic experiences will take place. Youcan think o this part as a sort o pre-His-panic amusement park lled with mysti-cal magical vibes and a lot o color.

At the same time, the Cumbre Tajnenourages lotier pursuits. It has aligneditsel with UNESCO and that United Na-tions bodys 2012 priorities, so many o theactivities will touch upon sustainable en-ergy and water conservation, as well as in-digenous cultures; special invitees include

representatives o Maya, Huichol and Ma-puche (rom southern Chile) cultures.As much a spiritually oriented gath-

ering as anything else, this 13th annualCumbre Tajn is playing up the symbolismo the No. 13 in Totonaca and most otherMesoamerican traditional world views:There are, or example, 13 emales weav-ers o human destiny, the moon revolvesaround the earth 13 times in a year, andeach season lasts 13 weeks.

In addition to the 5,000 artists, therewill be 5,000 activities, the organizers say.

A partial list: Arts and crats workshops

or kids, sports, puppets, dancing, tradi-tional ood, traditional medicine, puri-cation rites perormed by shamans orcurande-ros, massages o all kinds, medi-tation sessions, temascales(the tradition-al Mexican sweat lodge experiences), yogaclasses and meditation sessions.

At night, the ruins themselves come to

lie, in a multi-sensory event appropriate-ly called Tajn Vive. Laser-lit and accom-panied by music, the ceremonies and rit-uals are recreated on site. Its an experi-ence that goes to the heart and soul o whatCumbre Tajn is all about.

And then theres the music.The Cumbre is clearly more than a mu-

sic estival, but its also clear that the mu-sic is the main draw. The acts range romlocal traditional and olk music artists tointernational stars, and the line-up has in-cluded in recent years Miguel Bos, SeorCoconut, Natalia Laourcade, Fobia, Pat

de Fu, La Mala Rodriguez, Rubn Blades,Intocable and Cartel de Santa.This time around, the musical menu

is especially strong. Caianes and CaTacvba, the two titans o Mexican rockn roll, will take the stage, though not onthe same night. Theres Instituto Mexi-cano del Sonido, the danceable electronicDJ act that will also be perorming at theVive Latino estival in Mexico City a ewdays later. Also rom Mexico, theres thepop star Benny, the classic tropical groupLos Joao, and the local reggae band Los

Aguas Aguas. Theres the Baseballs, the

Mexican band that plays rockabilly ver-sions o songs rom popular singers likeKaty Perry and Lady Gaga. And theresLos Daniels, true rockers.

The international contingent is led byBjork, the Icelandic interpreter o manygenres, and the Irish rocker/polemicistSinead OConnor. Both will play on the -

nal night, in time or the spring equinox.Also appearing will be the Cuban salsastar Willy Chirino, the petite orchestrarom Oregon, Pink Martini, and Grammynominee Janelle Monae, who has openedor Bruno Mars as well as Eryka Badu, andis booked in estivals all around the world.

Thats an impressive line-up by anymeasure, and producer Brenda Tubilla,who put it together, was understandablypleased. We kind o had a wish list and itcame true, she said.

It wasnt always easy. Booking Cai-anes took a lot o time, she said. Bjork, on

the other hand, turned out to be an easycatch. She didnt know what Tajn wasabout but she agreed right away, Tubillasaid. We could meet her production re-quirements quite easily. Were on a parwith any estival worldwide.

Musicians who have played in venuesall over the world agree that Tajn has aspecial pull. Its one thing to play in a clubor stadium where the ans know all yoursongs and bought a ticket to watch onlyyou, said songwriter/guitarist/producerPaco Huidobro (Fobia, Los Odio), who has

played Tajn. Its something else to playlo Cojoite coe out o Vecu t-tui, copted o joco tditio, itepeti tditio o but o witi oe o tei owtei. Tei ew bu, sebdo oe (Pti Fowe), w poduced b ge ldu, uti-g oiee wo woed wit lolobo. Cojoite wi p o te sud it Cube Tj bi, edied b Wi Ciio.


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Bjrk

didnt knowwhat Tajnwas aboutbut sheagreed

rightaway.

Depite ecet et pobe, Iiie sid OCoo i ceduedto e bii wit Bj (bove) ote i it o te etiv, tepi equio o mc 21.



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where you see all dierent kinds o people.You can see the lady whos making torti-llas. A lot o kids are seeing a rock concertor the rst time in their lives. There areoreigners who are hearing your music orthe rst time, but theyre still dancing to it.The crowd is denitely part o the show.

Los Daniels, on the other hand, will bemaking their rst Cumbre Tajn appear-ance, and theyre looking orward to theexperience. Unlike estivals like Msi-ca para los dioses, which is held at Teo-

tihuacn but really has nothing to dowith indigenous culture, here you can bein touch with the local traditions, bass-ist Poncho (Carlos Alonso Daz) told me.Also, sharing a line-up with Caianes isreally important. A lot o our music is in-spired by theirs, so its a bid deal or us.

Not surprisingly, there was some suspi-cion on the part o the Totonaca commu-nity back in 2000 about the idea o a hugeestival organized by outsiders. But thatwas then. The estivals subsequent suc-cess has been a boon to the community,both culturally and economically. Cum-

bre Tajn attacts hundreds o thousands ovisitors, lling up hotels or miles around(not everybody camps) and otherwisepouring pesos into the local economies.

Its also helped put the El Tajn sitemore irmly on the tourism map. Thenumber o visitors has almost quintupledsince 1999, the year beore the rst Cum-bre Tajn. It is now Mexicos th most-vis-ited archaeological site.

And the estival is no longer put togeth-er by outsiders. The idea went rom a glob-al one to a local one, and then ater someyears became a local idea that grew into aglobal one, is how Bazbaz put it to me, andthen explained, At rst there 95 percento the people working on the project wererom other parts o the country. Today 95percent o the estival organizers and work-ers are rom the Totonacapan.

Now organized locally, the summit isthinking even more globally not just in

theme but in attendance as well. In 2000,you may have seen a ew American touristsand a European or two. Today the crowdis much more international, attractingvisitors rom Asia, Australia, Europe andacross the Americas. The estivals website (www.cumbretajin.com) reports vis-itors rom more than 80 countries.

As the estival has grown, the people othe Totonacan, indigenous or not, have be-come part o what might be considered theCumbre Tajn amily. Theres a virtuouscycle thats developed over the years, saidBazbaz, who works with the Totonacan

community year-round. Ater the esti-val is over, we seek scholarships or theworkers. We built a center or the indige-nous arts where more than 1,000 people areemployed. We succeeded in getting the Pa-pantla voladores named to World Heritagestatus. Its a year-round cultural regenera-tion program, and it benets everybody.

The tangible beneits are many. Sa-lomn mentioned books and videos created,

voladores schools established around theworld, elders councils organized, and com-munity workshops set up where womencrat and sell pieces, some o which are onexhibit at the British Museum.

Recipients o the scholarships Bazbazmentioned include voladores. As a result,some o them are pursuing careers as ar-chitects, teachers or lawyers when theyrenot dangling rom a rope at a great height.Its important that the indigenous com-munity grows at the same pace as the rest

o Mexican society, Bazbaz said. CumbreTajn demonstrates to all governments thatthey should invest more in cultural projectsand that these should come at the begin-ning not at the end on their investmentprojects adds Bazbaz.

Toward the end o our conversation Iwondered what Salomn Bazbaz might tellhimsel i he could talk to that younger orga-nizer trying to make the rst Cumbre Tajnhappen 13 years ago. He had a response: Iwould tell him thank you or sticking upor your idea, or being a visionary, becauseworking with the indigenous people and

their culture is my greatest satisaction.m h. m hosts Msica en Imagen

Monday through Friday rom 11 p.m. to 1 a.m.on Radio Imagen. She also tal ks in English about

popular music in Mexico on Living in Mexi-co, an English-language radio program hostedby Ana Mara Salazar that airs on Saturdays at7 a.m. and Sundays at 10 a.m. on Radio Imagen.

For more inormation on Radio Imagen, checkout the Mexico Review web site at www.mexico-review.com.

Copeeti C Tcvb d Cie, oue eetio o meic oce wi be epeeted t Cube Tj b lo Die. Foed i 2007d vete o Vive ltio, te ote it uti-d uic etiv i meico, te wi e te bi wit Cie, Pi sec, Divii micu dsoideo metio.


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26Predicted percentage o gross domesticproduct growth or Canada and the UnitedStates combined in 2012, accordingto ScotiaBank, as cited in the magazine

Nexos

2.9Predicted percentage o Mexican GDP

growth in 2012, per ScotiaBank

1The ranking o automobile accidents as

the cause o death o Mexican adolescents

50Percentage o those adolescent accidentvictims under the infuence o alcohol orother drugs, according to the National

Council Against Addictions (Conadic)

4Percentage increase in tourism tripswithin Mexico made by Mexican residents

in 2011 over 2010

18Minimum age or legally purchasing

alcohol across Mexico

21Minimum age or legally purchasing

alcohol across Mexico i legislation backedby the Health Secretariat becomes law

57,782Number o Volkswagen Jetta Classics soldin Mexico in 2011, a 39.7 percent increaseover 2010, moving the model to the top

spot in Mexican auto sales

55,741Number o Nissan Tsurus sold in Mexicoin 2011, an 8.8 percent decrease that costthe Tsuru its long-held position as leader

995,754Number o Facebook riends oSocial Development SecretaryHeriberto Flix Guerra as o Jan.12, 2012, according to Famecount,the social media statistics service.That makes him the highest-ranking riender among Mexicanpoliticians, although it is thoughtthat ormer State o Mexico governorand presumed PRI presidentialcandidate Enrique Pea Nieto has1.3 million Facebook riends, but

not conrmed by Famecount

11.7millionNumber o Mexican citizens living in the

United States as o 2010, according tothe Pew Hispanic Center

12million

Number o nochebuena plants, alsoknown as Poinsettias, sold in Mexico in

2006, mostly during December

24millionEstimated number o nochebuena plants

sold in Mexico in 2011, a 100 percentincrease.

0.49Mexicos Gini coecient, which measuresa nations economic inequality based onpre-tax income only, with 0 representinga perectly equal society and 1.0 a perectly

unequal one

0.49The Gini coecient or the United States

0.47The Gini coeicient or Mexico atertaxation and wealth transers romsocial programs are actored in. Thealmost insignicant drop means Mexicostax policy and social programs haveno equalizing eect, according to theacademic journalist and ormer Foreign

Relations Secretary Jorge Castaeda.

0.38U.S. Gini coecient ater taxes and wealth

transers are actored in

5.0The unemployment rate as a percentageexpected by CNN Expansin or Mexicoin 2012, as cited in the magazine Nexos

8.7The unemployment rate as a percentagepredicted by Moodys or the United States

in 2012


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EuropeanAdventurersMexiCOS PROSPeCTSf 2014 w cp p f p c.

By tom Buckley Photos: mexico review

Mexicos route to Brazil 2014goes through Europe. Al-though the path across Eng-land appears rockier than

expected, roads leading out rom Spain,Germany and France appear well paved.

El Tris perormance in World Cup

qualiers and its anticipated participa-tion in Brazil will in large part depend onhow well its European emigrants play.With 10 players presently on Europeanrosters, coach Jos Manuel Chepo de laTorre should be condent that he will havea reliable core or his roster.

Oensive heroics have not been re-quently on display by Mexicos Europe-ans but it can be argued that production

during the current 2011-12 season is notas critical as the subsequent two seasonswill be in determining who secures a spoton the World Cup roster.

Chepo can be expected to experi-ment a bit this year, especially in riend-lies leading up to the opening set o qual-

iers this summer. Mexico is a heavy a-vorite to emerge rom its qualiying groupand a schedule that opens with home-and-home series against Costa Rica, El Salva-dor and Guyana. Eyebrows will be raised iEl Tri is not in rst place when the GroupB tournament ends on Oct. 16.

As such, there should not be too muchpressure on European-based players toexcel on the international stage this year.

The exports wont be ghting or rosterspots though theyll eventually be lookingto demonstrate that they deserve a spot inthe starting 11 when they take the pitchwearing the green jersey.

DeFenSe TAKeS FROnT SeATIts ortunate that Chepo isnt desperateor answers in attack because oensive ex-ploits have been in short supply rom Mex-icans abroad.

Team Mexicos most popular export striker Javier Chicharito Hernndez has struggled with tness issues but hehas still managed to score at an eectiverate. Unortunately, Chicharitos main

guieo Oco, et, de poitiveipeio dui i ot tie i Fce.


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competition at Manchester United Brit-ish youngster Danny Welbeck had beenin ne orm, keeping Hernndez pinnedto the bench o late.

Forward Giovani dos Santos has notimpressed his coach at Tottenham Harry Redknapp and he is expected tobe sent out on loan or the remainder othe season. Although it would be preera-ble or dos Santos to establish some con-tinuity and nd some playing time or hisLondon club, getting on the eld is moreimportant.

Underachieving striker Carlos Vela ison loan rom Arsenal but has not excelledin Spain at Real Sociedad, battling to over-come a recurring knee injury. Winger Pab-

lo Barrera is on the bench in Zaragoza (onloan rom West Ham United), sliding outo avor since ormer Team Mexico coachJavier Aguirre was red in late December.

El Tris top producer in Europe is wing-er Andrs Guardado, playing and scoringor Deportivo la Corua in Spains Segun-da Divisin. He is expected to attract inter-est rom top-fight clubs ater the season.

On the deensive side o the ball, El Triappears strong with Hctor Moreno andFrancisco Maza Rodrguez carving outstarting spots in central deense in de-manding leagues. In the Corsican town

o Ajaccio, Guillermo Ochoa is stating hiscase or El Tris starting goalie position.

BReAKInG DOwn?Chicharito Hernndez enjoyed a break-out campaign last season at Man U, scor-ing 20 goals in all competitions to tie LuisGarca (1991-92) or most goals by a Mex-ican in their rst season abroad.

He saw action in 45 games, winning thestarting spot alongside Wayne Rooney asthe Red Devils won the Premier League ti-tle and advanced to the nal o the Europe-

an Champions League. Hernndez playedall 90 minutes o the inal in WembleyStadium but was ineective as Barcelo-na claimed the trophy with a 3-1 triumph.

This season, Chicharito seemedpoised to establish himsel as a top strik-er but instead has been nicked by injuriessuch that he has not been able to claim reg-ular minutes on the pitch.

Hernndez suered a concussion inthe preseason but scored a double when hereturned to the starting line-up on Sept.10. A week later, a brutal tackle by Ashley

Cole had him on injury row. Chicharitoreturned a week earlier than anticipatedrom the ankle knock but was hurt againon Sept. 24 in a nasty looking collisionwith Stoke City goalie Asmir Begovic. Hemade a splashy return as a sub in early Oc-tober, scoring his clubs equalizer at Liv-erpool in minute 81. Chicharito scoredthe winner in Man Us 1-0 win over Ever-ton on Oct. 29 and was the lone scorer inUniteds 1-0 win over Swansea on Nov. 19.

On Dec. 3, Hernndez suered a bad-ly sprained ankle in a reak incident awayrom the ball (he turned his ankle as he

tried to accelerate into space behind thedeense) and he was laid up or a month.Since then, Danny Welbeck has teamedup with Rooney and coach Alex Fergusonseems content to let Hernndez come ino the bench.

Chicharito might be orced to look tothe Europa League schedule in hopes oseeing the eld regularly since Welbeckhas repaid Fergusons conidence with

strong showings. The 21-year-old Brit-ish striker urther cemented his startingspot by scoring the game winner at Arse-nal on Jan. 22.

So ar this season, Hernndez has 6goals in 13 Premier League games aterrecording 13 goals in 27 Premier Leaguegames last season. He remains a an avor-ite and the Manchester United website de-scribes him in glowing terms:

An out-and-out striker, Chicharitois quick, two-ooted and strong in the air,qualities that have seen him likened toReds legend Ole Gunnar.

Since the Red Devils continue to com-pete in three tournaments (PremierLeague, FA Cup and Europa League),

there should be plenty o opportunity orHernndez to hit his stride in the com-ing months.

LOST In LOnDOnGiovani dos Santos just cant seem to liveup to the expectations that were createdater he led Team Mexico to the Under-17World Cup title in 2005 with fashy ballskills and elusiveness.

His perormance helped him earn aspot on Barcelonas senior team as an 18year old and he tallied 4 goals and 7 assists

in 2007-08, playing beside the then-20year old Lionel Messi. The two had grownup together at the amous La Masa socceracademy that has laid the oundation orBarcelonas recent dominance.

Unortunately, dos Santos also earneda reputation or not being very dedicat-ed and he began making headlines orhis nighttime prowling rather than hisplay on the pitch. Barcelona sold the

at et, Cicito eut i Od Tod wie, t it, giovi do sto ceebte te coi it soc rove i Euop leue tc.



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playmaker to Tottenham or 6 million eu-ros in the summer o 2008, but dos San-tos simply has not t in.

Tottenham coach Harry Redknapprequently cites dos Santos or lacking dis-cipline and playing time is hard to comeby. Gio has scored 2 goals in 10 games, pri-marily in the League Cup and the Euro-

pa League.Nick Rosano o goal.com expects dosSantos to go out on loan:

Though a loan to Racing Santanderproved promising in the frst hal o 2011,dos Santos now fnds himsel looking at thepossibility o joining a sixth club with justunder fve years o proessional soccer un-der his belt. Not that hes looked bad whenhes played this year. Hes put in some goodperormances in his limited time, grant-

ed, against opposition like ourth-divisionCheltenham Town and Irelands ShamrockRovers. But between his limited time withSpurs, his showings with the national teamand his time in Spain, it is obvious he hasthe talent to compete at the top level.

Chepo undoubtedly hopes Gio willrededicate himsel to his crat becausematch tness will be critical ahead o thissummers qualiers. Dos Santos showed

he can be a key contributor at last yearsGold Cup and his spectacular goal in thenal against Team USA was declared oneo the 10 Best Goals o 2011 by FIFA.

FInDInG THe neTWinger Andrs Guardado has been Mex-icos top scorer in Europe, while ormerU-17 starlet Carlos Vela ghts his way back

into shape at Real Sociedad and strikerNery Castillo reminds us he was once onthe Team Mexico roster.

Guardado got o to a bad start beorethe season when he made noise about hisreluctance to play in the Segunda Divisinbecause his club, Deportivo de la Corua,was relegated ater last season. He sought

a transer to a La Liga club but that onlyearned him the enmity o hard-core De-portivo ans who called him a traitor anda backstabber.

Once the season started, however, ElPrincipito quickly silenced his detrac-tors and has become the top goal scoreror Depor. Guardado has 8 goals and 4 as-sists in 17 games as Depor sits atop the Se-gunda Divisin table poised or a quick re-turn to La Liga.

Despite the prospects o promotion tothe top Spanish league, the Spanish pressbelieves Guardado will join Valencia on aree transer in the summer.

Vela signed with Arsenal ater teamingwith Gio to bring home the U-17 trophy in2005 but he has never lived up to his poten-tial. Velas easy-going nature has allowedcritics to skewer him or a lack o re and,to make matters worse, he has been inju-

ry prone.Vela has squandered every opportunityto crack Arsenals line-up the past six yearsand he has typically been armed out to oth-er clubs Salamanca, Osasuna, West Bromand now Real Sociedad. On loan, he haswon playing time but has never fashed sus-tained oensive prowess. He has been ea-tured in El Tri but is no longer a rst choiceand i he is not t (he has been struggling

with knee and ankle problems the past twoyears) he wont be suiting up or Chepoany time soon.

Castillo has re-emerged ater threeyears in limbo. Once the source o a ercewar among Uruguay, Greece and Mexicowho each sought to convince him to playor their national team, Castillo then on-

ly 22 chose Mexico in 2007.Castillo basically fopped and saw hisclub career nearly tank as well, thanks tohis perceived arrogance and selshness. Astar at Olympiakos as a teenager, Castillosigned with Ukraines Shakhtar Donetsk in2008 and almost disappeared. The skilledstriker was injured requently and alsoailed to adapt to the cold weather. A loanto Manchester City in 2009 proved unsuc-cessul and Castillo played anonymously

or the Chicago Fire o the MLS last year.This year, Castillo returned to Greece,

signing with Aris Salonika but he remainedvirtually invisible through the end o 2011.However he has caught re recently, nodoubt capturing the interest o Chepo.Castillo scored twice on Jan. 22 to movehis tally to 4 goals in 12 games. I he con-tinues to bulge the net, Castillo could earna return invitation to a Team Mexico train-

ing camp this year.

STAnDInG TALLTeam Mexicos central deense appears tobe in good hands with Francisco Rodrguezand Hctor Moreno earning plaudits play-ing with modest teams in top-notch leagues.

Maza Rodrguez is a rst-choice de-ender or Stuttgart and has even recorded

ad guddo, et, bee poductive t Depotivo Cou ti eo; t it, Jvie auie t to E Jue i novebe. Bot e veice bee diied b zo.


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a goal and an assist in his 16 games thus ar.Maza moved to Germany this season aterplaying or three seasons in the Eredivisiewith Dutch powerhouse PSV Eindhoven.

Just back rom the month-long winterbreak, Stuttgart is seven points out o a spotin Europe, primarily because its oensehas struggled to score. The 63 Sinaloa

native ts in well in the rugged Bundesli-ga though he still tends to roam out o po-sition rom time to time.

Moreno also graduated rom theDutch League where he played three sea-sons with AZ Alkmaar, helping lead theclub to the league title in 2008-09. This sea-son, Moreno made the move to Espanyol deBarcelona where he is a permanent xturein the Periquitos back line. The UNAMproduct and another member o the 2005U-17 world champions has scored twice in17 La Liga games this season as Espanyolresides in th place.

Moreno has won admirers in Spainwith his smooth play in ront o net andhis skill at moving the ball to his mideld-ers. His condent play with the ball at hiseet as earned him comparisons to ormerBarcelona man Raa Mrquez.

In France, Memo Ochoa has ound a newhome. The goalie had long sought to migrateto Europe but Amrica was reluctant to lethim go until nally giving him the opportu-nity last summer. Unortunately, Ochoa wassuspended rom the national team ahead othe Concaca Gold Cup last June when he

tested positive or Clembuterol.A month later, Ochoa and our othermembers o El Tri were cleared ater sub-sequent analysis determined that the posi-tive test was caused by tainted meat.

The timing o the suspension limitedhis chances to negotiate with some Eu-ropean clubs, however, and Ochoa nallyconsented to join the modest French clubAjaccio, a team that had just won promo-tion to Ligue 1.

Ochoa quickly established himsel as therst-choice keeper and became a darling othe ans. The outmanned club was overrun

in the early stages o the season, but Ochoaregularly prevented losses rom becomingblowouts. His acrobatic perormances andcat-like refexes have been requently citedas top class and bigger European clubs areexpected to come knocking this summer.

Ajaccio opened the new year with athree-game win streak to narrow the gapat the bottom o the standings and can nowrealistically dream o avoiding relegation

back to Ligue 2. Much o that will de-pend on how well Ochoa deends the Aja-

ccio goal. For now, Ochoa has put himselsquarely back in the conversation to be-come El Tris top goalkeeper.

Up In THe AIRMexicos two newest exports Pablo Bar-rera and Ean Jurez have both ailed tomake an impact in Europe. Last season,both Barrera and Jurez struggled withlanguage barriers ater promising startsto their rookie campaigns abroad. Bar-rera in Englands West Ham United andJurez at Scotlands Celtic each gradual-

ly lost playing time as communication inEnglish proved their undoing.This season, the two UNAM products

(and both also U-17 World Cup championsin 2005) were acquired by Zaragoza at thebehest o Javier Aguirre. Unortunately,Zaragoza stumbled badly out o the gateand still cant escape the cellar. Aguirre wasred in late December and Jurez was cutloose, victimized by a series o poor games.

Jurez has yet to catch onto a new team andCeltic is unlikely to keep him in their senior

team. There were whispers that the wingdeender would return on loan to a Mexi-can team but nothing has transpired to dateand he has remained in Zaragoza where hestill trains with the club.

Barrera appears likely to keep his spoton the Zaragoza roster. The speedy wingerwas on the bench during the clubs 0-0 drawagainst Levante on Jan. 22 and probably willplay as a substitute the rest o the season.Barrera has 1 goal in 16 games this season.

Former Team Mexico skipper RaaMrquez is unlikely to make the roster orBrazil 2014 (he will be 35 when the World

Cup kicks o), but he could surprise.The classy deender did not have a goodseason last year with the New York Red Bulls,creating controversy by criticizing team-mates. The outburst earned him a suspen-sion during the playos and he has been vili-ied by ans. Nonetheless, Raa has three yearsremaining on his contract and i he demon-strates his trademark sweeper skills he couldremain a constant during qualiying.

Mexicos next internationalriendly is on Feb. 29, a FIFAdate, so El Tri will likely eature

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THe GUADALAJARA InTeRnATIOnAL FILM FeSTIVAL March 2-10 in Guadalajara, JaliscoTe Fetiv Itecio de Cie de gudj (FICg) i coideed te ot ipott evet i lti aeic. lt eoe t 300 ovie wee ow, bout oe-tid o te meic, d te et o 44 ote coutie. Pt o it tetcoe o te wide e o uppoti ititutio, icudi te Uiveit o gudj, te meic Fi Ititute (Icie),te ntio Couci o Cutue d te at (Cocut), te Jico tte oveet, d te citie o gudj d zpop.

THe ZIHUATAneJO InTeRnATIOnAL GUITAR FeSTIVALMarch 5-11 in Zihuatanejo, Guerreroa wee o uit uic i pdie i ow ti o-poit uic j bi ite. Te be pi i tow d ote bec, d te epi i ot o coeci e but o upeb uit pici d ccopi o,d tt icude bue, cic, eco, oc, ocbi, gp j d wi uitit o Bi, Tue,Uited stte, Cd d meico. Peoe wi icude: Jo lui Cobo (o ziutejo), To ouu(Tue), Pu re (auti, Te), ado Feie (Bi), Juet (Cd), Eic mcFdde (s Fcico),

O Toe (lo aee) d l.a. ie/owite/uitit ed r Bde, tt i.

MAnOS DeL MUnDOMarch 15-18 in Mexico CityTe e e hd o te Wod, d te do e d d te do e wod. It te tideditio o u ti i tt bi toete te wo o ti o ove te wod. Itot teet i; te evet te pce i te pciou Epo reo eibitio pce. But tee wi bepet o uppoti cutu ctivit, icudi dce o Idi d te midde Et, scotti bpipe,aetie to uic d dce, d ici, o uc ee.

CUMBRe eL TAJn March 17-21 El Tajn, Papantla and Parque Takilhsukut, VeracruzIt ve-d etiv cuiti i te spi Equio d ti pce i d oud te id-bowipe-Coubi ui o E Tj. Tee to piitu vibe to te evet, we eiteed

evioet wee d, ied it i ti e to te UnEsCO ed, ot o pootio o teoci epoibe, icudi wte coevtio d utibe ee. I ote wod, wee tioe t jut bi pt. sti, te i ttctio i te uic. Te ie-up ti e icude te twobiet bd i meico Cie d C Tcvb we itetio t Bjo d siedOCoo, o ote. (see pe 18.)

THe pApAL VISITMarch 23-26 in Len, Guanajuato, and Silao, GuanajuatoPope Beedict xVI wi be i gujuto, tte ow o it eiiou coevti, beoe ovi o to Cub. he i ceduedto ive t te Bjo aipot i te cit o le o te teoo o te 23d, Fid, wee e wi be eceived ed o tteb Peidet Cde. he wi t t te mifoe Coee, ite o te sve o te mot ho Eucit d o te moteo god. O stud, e wi eet wit Cde i te cit o gujuto d te ppe pubic i gujuto P de P. sud evet wi icude m i te ew Bicetei P i sio, betwee le d gujuto, t te oot o

Cubiete hi d it ue ouet to Cit te ki. Bc i le, te Pope wi ceebte Vepe i te cted tee ddde biop d ote epeettive o te Biop Coeece o lti aeic d te Cibbe. O mod oi,e wi f to te cit o stio de Cub.

FeSTIVAL VIVe LATInO March 23-25, in Mexico CityTe peie oc etiv i lti aeic wi te pce ove tee d d it t te Foo so, meico Cit tdiu. Teuic peoe icude Bubu, mde, C Tcvb, Jie lpe, mootov d 100 ote.

Coming up ...


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