© 2007 Institute of Current World Affairs
The Institute awards long-term fellowships to develop a deep understanding of an issue, country, or region outside the US and to share that understanding with a wider public.
Institute of Current World Affairs - Home Page

Below is a hobbled text version of a PDF document.
In order to read the actual document please click the link below and register if necessary.
(One-time registration is free and very quick.)
Read article

10/1/1995 - First Impressions: Mexico Prepares for Day of Dead in Critical Condition by William F. Foote

First Impressions Mexico Prepares Day Dead Critical Condition BYWILLIAM F FOOTE MEXICO Mexico City October I vampire Guadalupe Montiel Castillo throw ponytail Shining underneath black satin crimson collar flashes plastic fangs three grandchildren sitting They cower their fingers giggle VictorManuelCastillo Guadalupe pushesthroughatrash stuffed colorful disguises Here favorite draping skeleton across chest smiling pride We kinds costumes Day Dead brujas ghosts goblins vampires monks younameit The member Castillo family costume factory their Colonia Federal Burocratica working class neighborhood outskirts Mexico City Since turned profit their ghoulish outfits In season Castillos ployed sewers fabric cutters neighborhood Disguises pesos U S outdoor markets downtown We about costumes Victor younger brother Jose Luis Castillo paunchy construction worker keeps books My godfather originally He designed horror masks Day Dead suggestedwemake costumes match On November Day Dead Mexicans believe souls deceased return visit their living tives Families gather graveyards picnic spend night their departed By October bakeries throughout Mexico fillwithdeath themed sweets sugar skulls outdoor marketsteemwith tumeshoppers Orders usually crazy ofyear Juan opening workshop Victor displays skeleton Inside three women crouch sewing machines click The walls Satan tails stuff pumpkin costumes But things reallyslow Thistime lastyear wehad19seamstresses working seven Workshop finished Victor shimmies ladder which constructed splicing plastic corrugated cardboard scraps Shoving through hanging laundry arrive patio rustylawn chair I something I mother We stand together facing Mexico City which sprawls horizon under thick ofyellow You He pointsdownthe plywood shanties clustered along steep paths Heat vapors parched valley below wobble We couldbe there again WF This disaster continues The problem costume season always started July until September We costumes We lucky Vi turns towardsme crosses himself frown breaking Still unlike nearly everyone around And there Santa Claus angel costumes inDecember So survive Eva Velasco Lopez three seamstresses optimistic I summer aweekago comfort floored parlor Colonia Condesa middle class neighborhood downtown Mexico City Eva works morning housekeeper You gotten Tortillas electricity water everything creasesalmosteveryday Andthebus supover percent My friend Mexico City month return Chiapas where mother lives otherfriendswhoplantomove God willing Tampico northern state where still family It better there least All I survive thewaythings Welcome Ciudad Mexico million people throes severe economic crisis Most people story Mexico nomic bubble burst January President Ernesto Zedillo government jolted world financial ketsbydevaluingthepeso thatblindsidingtheUnited States others jeopardized years efforts sertMexico global economy But little stories really shape reality Mexico million people Experiences shocking water crisis splashed people Cas tillos Families climbed their neighborhood ladder themselves tumbling again Or people Eva Velasco before remained bottom could least survive there For millions others January splash hasbecome anumbing downpour Welcome where staples cooking begun luxury items Where basic consumption falls nearly twenty percent month Where Eva Velasco fortunate pesos close dollars minimum daily Mexico averages barely three Significantly country large problems matched hardship middle class perhaps million Mexico disillusioned The people benefited consumer early nineties government subsi dized overvalued Families filled dreams ofbuying homes putting college Dreams turned nightmares devaluation adjustable mortgages rocketed banks repossessed houses record million workers lostjobs country withnounemploymentinsurance Despite massive streamlining Mexican panies remain critical condition Forty businesses Mexico adding casualty taling since crisis broke El Financiero Mexico financial daily reports domestic industry sputtering along percent percent stalled capacity During first almost percent small medium businesses reported percent sales Business leaders internal market reactivated majority small medium compa disappear But meant report state Mexico crisis It snapshot impression country where Gina I years We Mexico City twelve sleeping friend couch Just barely enough mirrors someone greater But expected We would chaotic things changed You might countless vendors selling usele items every street corner Luis Lopezllera founder Promocion Desarrollo Popular Promotion Peoples Development governmental organi zation Mexico City But social dislocation unraveling Federal District To assaults reported every those unreported killed there least suicide subway people throwing themselves tracks Heck I mugged around corner month People really desperate For started U S Mexico border along Rio Grande sense disorder Trucks there Tom Castillo Chi booth attendant Laredo Texas busiest customs border Mr Castillo points north toward Sears shopping center spread along parking They having tough malls None Mexicans heretoshopanymore Nomoney guess Dawn covers plaza darkness I chatty beaten snarling traffic Mr Castillo continues Last about trucks But still fewmonths Mexico registered August September basic foods consumption El Financiero Oct The NewYorkTimes July Middleclassisdefinedhereaseveryonewhoearnsenoughtokeepfrombeinghungrybutwhoisnotwealthy enough richest E1Financiero Oct El Financiero Oct Businessmayimprove Laredo consequence relaxed announcedby Mexican govern mentrecently StartingNovember Mexicanswho livealongtheborderandcrossintotheU S bylandwillbe lowed bring asmuch dollars U S goodsback Mexico person monthly without paying tariffs Institute Current World Affairs place coffee dashboard clicks Why increase trucks Mr Castillo tioned Mexico manufacturing economy adjusting devaluation increasing exports So U S companies maquiladora operations Mexico The Sonys Johnson Johnsons General Motors compensating collapse domestic demand Mexico taking advantage cheaper labor costs dollars Mexican companies increasing their capabilities importing capital goods since April It makes sense there constant exporters Mexico while today there around Isn healthy Yes Mr Lopezllera whose governmental organization supports hundreds microenterprises Mexico The problem these porting companies mention tually compete globally count hands considered these issues whizzed south eighteen wheelers yesterday approaching Laredo route Kansas City After pressing issues crossingtheborder You goingto overthere anotherAmer icancustoms agent southern drawl Welcometo Mars Shut barks Mr Castillo His buddy oversee ing18Mexicanswhosquatinthegrasstoour against fence parallel Rio Grande Illegal immigrants agent snarls hisbreath During first seven months nearly Mexicans foundjobs illegally U S impoverished workers escaping economic crisis drought If caught manypass throughLaredo ontheirwaybackto Mexico The border patrol brings illegal Mexicans Mr Castillo referring U S Mexico border Last seven themthey dcaughtinNebraska I Mr Castillo brandishing FM3 visitor residency fruit three months haggling Mexican Consulate New York City Gina readies Spanish house items crammed trunk serial numbers electronic goods We motor bridge Murky morning light begins illuminate NuevoLaredoonthe farbangatownwitha stablepop ulationof220 mostofwhomare asleep Flickering street lamps reflect Rio Grande below mindsgo racing Minutes later You bridge No customs agent inspect house holdgoods theborderguardsays Wecan tdoithere bridge No That means around U S enter through other bridge They llinspectyourcar thankhimforhisassistance Oh andbytheway their officeopensat My watch reads Trucks rumbling forth across U S Mexico border carrying tomatoes chewing Ford Broncos electric genera Maybelline mascara Just under neath lofty sweaty border patrols matic weapons directing fours toward inspection their thrusts Teenage ragamuffins curiously around steel customs examination table Once packed neatly fourwoodentrunks ourworldlypossessions puters radio blender shoes sweaters flung ondisplay bakinglike roadkillintheafternoon That dollars Gustavo Castillo Es customs agent encased snakeskin andbrass buckled loafers You andyou havetopayanytaxesonyourhouseholdgoods Icorn Currently companies rnaquiladora operations Mexico Maquiladoras operate simple principle canshipyourrawmaterialsandpartsfromtheU S toMexico wheretheywillbeprocessedbylow costMexicanlaborand returned U S finished sernifinished products paying customs duties U S portion product El Financiero Oc El Financiero Oct WF grudgingly Onehour later wehead south mitandstampedpassports inhand Onward finally Was I midwife birth blacktop beast I askmyselfthisquestionaswepaythe firstofmanyex orbitant access Mexico network I helped finance turnpikes global capital marketswhen working Lehman Brothers investment their Latin American Emerging Markets Group One those Wall Street highway jects between Toluca Mexico City In1993 TheNewYorkTimessummedup itssuccess Hardly trucks fancy Mexico City Toluca three smooth asphalt lanes direction For stretch Toluca equivalent U S twice trucks By compari motorists travel entire miles NewJersey Turnpike U S Toll roads Mexico When President Carlos Salinas Gortari office there about miles superhighway whole country During sexenio highways became flagship example provide infrastructure financed global capital Private investorswouldtheo retically repaid charges years More miles blacktop built There problem however Mexi roads expensive stretches asphalt world Vir tuallyno The asphalt ofRoute Monter looks black slush spilling wardthe SierraMadres Across desert ofnorth Mexico countless Joshua trees earth defiant prickly fists As across stretch ofnearlyemptyplateau Ithinkofthose pitch books prepared Lehman Brothers marketing tools boasted success Cuernevaca Mexico City financed government It smuchbetterthanToluca wewould explain The tollroads inbigtroublenow admitsDr A1 ejandro Valenzuela director International Financial Affairs Mexican Finance Ministry The govern taken renegotiated concessions years Dr Valenzuela cates construction another miles express wayin order close ensure alltheroads connected But first things first Few people drive interstates today urgent problem We currently searching forwaysto bring tollsdown thatsomeMexicansmight startusingthem Mr Lopezllera Promocion disagrees Farmers never these highways I think theywere designed extraterrestrials Approaching spiny cliffs canyons peaks Sierra Madre Oriental I spaceships Route almost empty A Ford Bronco dashes carrying stylish passengers mering mountains Monterrey Meanwhile desert plateau scores eighteen wheelers clouds lumber downthe alternate freeway parallel Where We regular highway Route wending southward narrow laned shoul Driving constant battle survival The after circumventing Monterrey Saltillo modern industrial center capital Coahuila state Soon after donkeys stray pedestrians emerge brush straggling Behind mountains twilight casts magnificent light western sierra stark contrast illegible slopes across valleys On roadside shrines crosses memorate losers countless confrontations Trucks around recklessly belch diesel exhauSt vents We retire night Mate huala sleepy pleasant zocalo plaza along stretch between Saltillo San Luis Potosi Early morning highway rugged mountain terrain descends desert expanse Potholes demand driving observe Beside giant agave ababy coyote peers swaddled blanket under woman Tuna fruit prickly cactus Dried rattlesnake skins drape roadside Mulesbawl Slick Pemex stations Monterrey reappear leave approaching central highlands Mexico Bajio region Desert fighting bulls silos As Route twists through Mexico agricultural heartland fertile farmlands trees andmaguey fields dominate landscape This center heavy manufacturing petro chemical processing petroleum refining plants Mexico richest mining region Bajio minerals tracted Spanish built famous silver cities Wenavigate through San Luis Potosi bustlingcapitalofthe stateofthesamename andQue retaro capital Queretaro state West latter Morelia state Michoacan other silver where Institute Current World Affairs Marionettes madeforDay Dead after earthquake early spring Our first destination however Mexico City which miles south Queretaro We arrive easily Sunday offers fight traffic course roads empty What going I myself Gina scurries steps apartment friend Juliette Levy afforded which sleep Mexico City Come Gina shouts motion sickness Thelampabovemyh isswinging No could Anearthquake first Sure enough seism measuring Richter scalehashitthePacificcoastofMexico joinhundreds neighbors pouring downstaircases Dead silence shrouds street everyone waiting something happen I guess Nothing Someone shouts geringa collective relief Andaswe millabout damage tremor crushes people death western states ofJalisco Colima It cruel recall brutal earthquake shook Mexico City foundations years killing people flattening buildings Colonia Condesa Ms Levy neighbor devastated areas capital The ground unstable because Spanish built quarter covering Lake Tenochtitlan Don worry place survived going Ms Levy assures inside building which constructed En glish engineers And happen every Thegroundshakesagain Thistimewe areparkedin theZocalo theheartofMexicoCity andofthecoun The famous square hosted coronations revolu WF tions Mexico first fight Tonight demon stration thousands teachers protesting against measly wages winds front National Palace originallyCortes sheadquartersandnowMex presidential offices Drums pulsate across Plaza Constitution mixing slogans blaring through loudspeakers Turn century electric globes illuminate scene Dark shadows fence surrounding National Cathe where unemployed workers their identifying carpenters construction workers electricians All Mexico problems played Zocalo Eugenio Robles Aguayo subdirector government affairs district Tlahuac precincts Mexico City divided And havewegot problems turningthewheel white government issued Ford pickup truck There demonstrations every peasants unions indigenous groups Not Youshould offices inTlahuac Mr Robles carrying member PRI ruling party blames difficulties budgetary straints generated recession The following visited Tlahuac industrial people located about minutes south ofdowntownby Our budget allocation Tlahuac Mexico City approved January million pesos U S million toward infrastructure develop social services Due crisis money withheld eight months We received allocation September You imagine tience Back Zocalo Mr Robles white truck rounds corner stops before Bank Mexico Sounds pattering walkie talkies approach Two policemen sprint cobblestones rection teachers march pistols drawn Quiet turns Streetlampsshineonthecentralbank sstonyfa think Mr Sergio Munoz editor attheLosAngeles Times toldmetwoweeksago The interesting shakers Mexican civil today protesting Bank Mexico Mr Munoz referring Barzon movement which counts million members mostly farmers small businessmen businesses bankrupt during recession The group members other debtors interest rates fluctuate percent before December devaluation rates percent March While rates declined months recently again nudging above percent September It interesting movement problem debtors Mr Lopezllera Promocion You Un employedworkers lineup infront ofNationalCathedral Zocalo development U S The first floor Mr Lopezllera office building houses Caja Popular neighborhood cooperative lends small amounts money interest Last families saved money every downstairs there twenty They cannot their debts adding members E1 Barzon What E1 Barzon simple continued Mr Mu lunch L A Times office For example whenthe repomen cometo repossess ahouse localmembers gather Then ahundred ofthem showupandcirclethehouse orthe wieldingsticks andbludgeons Nobodyrepossesses anything E1 Barzon currently building front Supreme Court building Their leadership urging members payments November group granted meeting government officialsandbankersthat ithassoughtallyear They putting their Mr Munoz cluded They resayingwesimplycannotandwillnot E1 Barzon Zapatistas violence sweeping Guerrero state10 insurrection state ofMorelosmwhyhasthe situationhere gotten President Zedillo offered theory summer It isquite simple asmallgroup ofbadguys sisted changed probably behind violence shaken country Michael Jacobs project officer Inter American Development Bank Washington D C another explanation According movements E1 Barzon reflect weakening Mexican ernment totalitarian capacity Mr Jacobs suggests space autonomous civil action Mexico increas thanks earthquake which produced irreversible change relationship between ernment society The ineptitude government initial response disastermarkedabreakinmostMexicans minds Thegovernmentlostprestigethereinawaythat itquite frankly never recovered And think perity either apparent about about underSalinas andhisownpolitical skill disguisedthis But speed which turned around whenlast thingswentwrong strategy tually reflection underlying change penedwith quake Mexico Finance Minister Guillermo Ortiz Martinez seems almost encouraged civil strife Speaking press President Ernesto Zedillo recent visit United States called sound democratic opening He followed litany measures undertaken alleviate These included U S million announced September rebuild ports railroads bridges early payment U S million Mexico U S meant world financial markets Mexico indee emerging crisis We applying economic strategy mount crisis assured President Zedillo presentation National Development Plan May Three months later lamented theNewYorkTimesthat Iknowthatthis isgoingtobe painful nobody going But iswhat country needs Today Zedillo recipe remains In sence Mexico should consolidate intensify structural changes undertaken decade Mexico should implement reforms provide broad stable foundation domestic saving But first Mexico persevere discipline until exchange financial markets recover infla tionary pressures reduced Only Mexico achieve gradual recovery economy boost levels employment Mr Lopezllera Promocion fundamental Seventeen peasantswere gunneddownrecently confrontation police TheNewYorkTimes J El Financiero Oct TheNewYorkTimes July Institute Current World Affairs Zedillo attitude He perpet uating madness under Salinas His strategy giants WorldBank corpo rations They Mexico telescopic vision But scopesyoulookatplanets It istime focus microbes cells Be cause Mexico there absolutely correlation between capital inflows microeconomy And cells dying which We Mexico City nearby little microbe analysis Draping facade lonial style spray painted banner reads Death Traitors Life Our Reserves From building eaves dozen effigies Those members Effigies offormer municipal council hangfrom Tepotzlan Morelos former municipal government expla insJuan Gonzalez short indigenousman stand front porch He wears cowboy speaks Nauhatl language descended Columbian times Bags dried beans portable stoves photographs recent clashes between govern troops locals surround I neighborhood Santissimo service Today guard This Tepotzlan community people tledbetweenjaggedmountains inthe state ofMorelos about minutes south Mexico City Two months reporters swarmed promised international press coverage potential Townspeople mished state police proposed project built communal reserves The municipal government picked governor sparked conflict calling phony election Hired voters bussed police townspeople ballot boxes Enraged locals revolted ousted municipal authorities several hostages assembled barricades entrances Armed sticks waited federal troops arrive They never tually reporterswent Nerves today The sentries stoop cards mostly gossip Bar riers ringing remain neigh borhood watches The federal state governments chosen ignore dilemma visional municipal council townspeople elected early October People Tepotzlan frustrated They resent government shoulder plain basic services But convinced happened important national scale I believe beyond course Pe droDiegoAlvaradoRivera apainter thegrandson ofDiego Rivera whoownsahousehere inTepotzlan I think indictment abuse decline government years revolution today If people misery country Mexico indigenous towns consider individuals governmentwho millions millionsof dollars money should towards schools hospitals What effectively committing bloodless genocide Craig Torres Wall Street Journal correspondent Mexico suggests people Mr Alvarado incited rebellion Tepotzlan The Pedro spokesman townspeople Tepotzlan confirms theory lunch plate pasta downtown Mexico City Mr Torres convinced wealthy Mexicans readyowned fancy houses Tepotzlanwould thing other chilangos Mexico City dents foreigners invading their playground SinceourtriptoTepotzlantheconflicthasescalated OnOctober26th twoTepotzlanprotestersw ereshotinthe neighboringvillageofSantaCatarina 5kmaway 000demonstratorsfacedoffwith150stateriotpolice Local sources confrontationbeganwhen municipal officials tried national registry office Santa Catarina The consensus national press police pulled trigger WF Do think indigenous leaders money hireaplanetodroppamphlets alloverthe stateofMo relos support their cause reporter asked But Mr Torres feels differently about Zapatista revolt Chiapas He articulated icisms expressedby Subcomondante Marcos regarding neoliberalist model pursued during decade greater appeal Mexicans Americans might think Said Mr Torres rebel leader His words sparks Mexicans Sure grass iswettoday Butimagine itweredry takeataxibacktoMs Levy sapartment stillthink about Mr Torres comments The Volkswagon rolls through traffic Paseo Reforma Mexico City Champs Elysees At light scrub windshields their faces clothes caked No cleaner twenties sucks flask kerosene He breathes flamesforthesameprice The lightturnsgreen Anew BMWdashes forth followed white Ford Sedan pursuit bodyguards presumably You BackatMs Levy splace Igreetthewatchmanwho guards neighbors Opening apartment I Eva Velasco returning market Ah putting groceries giggling Wait there She disap pears kitchen reappears package reach inside discover costume Day Dead Ablack dress unfurls towardthe floor That sthewickedwitchfromSnow White It Gina Eva Buried underneath skeleton Yours La Muerte Death It Why La Muerte important Mexicans He inevitable He pulls together I thank hoping never comes Institute Current World Affairs Current Fellows Their Activities Hisham Ahmed Born blind Palestinian Dheisheh Refugee Camp Bethlehem Hisham finished A levels fifth highest score students throughout Israel He received B A political science scholarship Illi State University M A Ph D University California Santa Barbara Back East Jerusalem still blind Hisham plans gather histories broad selection Pal estinians produce Portrait Palestine crucial point Middle Eastern history MIDEAST N AFRICA Adam Albion A former research associate Institute EastWest Studies Prague Czech Republic Adam spending years writing about Turkey regional growing importance actor Balkans Middle East former Soviet A Harvard graduate History Adam completed first M Litt degree Russian East European history languages Oxford University EUROPE RUSSIA Cynthia Caron With Masters degree Forest Science Yale School Forestry Envi ronment Cynthia spending years South Asia ICWA first John Miller Musser Memorial Forest Society Fellow She studying about impact forest preservation jects lives tenure indigenous peoples local farmers their fringes Her fellowship includes stays Bhutan In Sri Lanka SOUTH ASIA Forest Society William F Foote Formerly financial analyst Lehman Brothers Emerging Markets Group Willy Foote examining economic substructure Mexico impact market reforms Mexico people society politics Willy holds Bachelor Yale University history Master London School Economics Development Economics Latin America Basque history San Sebastian Spain He carried intensive Spanish language studies Guatemala worked Reporter Buenos Aires Herald THE AMERICAS Sharon Griffin A feature writer contributing columnist African affairs San Diego Union Tribune Sharon spending years southern Africa studying Zulu KwaZulu kingdom writing about nongovernmental ganizations fulfillment centers national needs developing countries where govern ments still feeling their toward effective administration She plans travel Na mibia Zimbabwe South Africa SAHARA Pramila Jayapal Born India Pramila through primary ondary education Indonesia She graduated Georgeto University M B A Kellogg School Management Evanston Illinois She worked corporate analyst PaineWebber counts manager world leading producer cardiac defibrillators recently million developing country revolving Program Appropriate Technol Health PATH Seattle Pramila spend years India tracing roots study social issues involving religion status women population AIDS SOUTH ASIA Cheng Li An Assistant Professor Government Hamilton College Clinton NY Cheng Li studying growth technocracy impact economy southeastern coast China He began academic earning Medical Degree Jing An Medical School Shanghai graduate Asian Studies Political Science United States M A Berkeley Ph D Princeton EAST ASIA Teresa C Yates A former member Ameri Civil Liberties Union national force workplace Teresa spending years South Africa observing reporting efforts Mandela government reform national tenure system AVassar graduate ajuris doctorfrom University Cincinnati College Law Teresa internship Centre Applied Legal Studies Johannesburg studying feasibility including economic rights South African constitution While ACLU ducted Seminar Women Law Ford Law School NewYork SAHARA Institute Current World Affairs Author Institute Current World Affairs Title ICWA Letters The Americas ISSN Imprint Hanover NH Material Type Serial Language English Frequency Monthly Other Regions Mideast North Africa Europe Russia SubSaharan Africa South Asia East Asia C hosen basis character previous perience promise Institute Fellows young professionals funded spend years carrying designed programs study writing outside United States The Fellows required their findings experiences field month They write subject formally informally The result unique report analysis periodical assessment ternational events issues The InstituteofCurrentWorldAffairs 4WESTWHEELOGKSTREET HANOVER NEW HAMPSHIRE 03755 ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED Nonprofit Org U S Postage PAID Lebanon NH 03766 Permit