Centerfield

Get Your Mexico-Blogging Here

Here's what I saw beyond the all-important Churchill sightings (see the open thread for those).

Political Notes: We saw plenty of loud, peaceful demonstrations, good evidence they aren't discouraged; we even saw an ad for demonstrators. One protest we could figure out the reasons for included one against a corrupt ex-Governor who cracked down on violent extremists; we couldn't figure out what they wanted. Another was about a pending law legalizing abortion just in Mexico City.

There was news in the newspaper about a fight with the Catholic Church about that bill. Some local hierarchs apparently have threatened to excommunicate any Councilman who votes for it. They seem to have forgotten that the Middle Ages are over, and that today that's a great way to solidify support for the bill; after that, the bill had broad support, of course, and easily passed. Interestingly, the Profesora says Mexican priests weren't even allowed to vote between adoption of a constitution and 1910, because of fears about the Church' antidemocratic role.

Economic Impressions: It reminded me of writings about Victorian England or America. Most of Mexico's good jobs are industrial jobs. There was an utterly vast service-providing class, and though interiors were often well-polished, building outsides were sooty. Though the smog in Mexico City was no worse than LA.

Mexico should see a reduction in the service class and an increase of better-paid, more flexible, more cerebral jobs as it slowly goes post-industrial, just as the UK and the US have. But another post by another blogger there at the same time brought up another problem:

. . . Mexico needs more engineers, but that means they need both more students studying engineering and more jobs for those students once they graduate. The lawyer who was driving a taxi was an excellent example of those problems.

...plus, many of those potential engineers end up sucked north instead of starting their own companies.

The problem IS being worked on. Here in Austin I ran into a man from Tamaulipas, a Mexican state, who was trying to understand some of the mechanics of our venture infratructure and how to get it going. I hope it works out for them.

For more Latin American coverage, look here.