Professor of Political Science & Sen. Wm. McMaster Chair in Gender & Methodology, McMaster University
Let the political alliances begin
Yesterday, leaders of the UNT announced they would lend their support to the PRD’s candidate in 2006. This is one of the largest independent labor organizations, to which the Telefonistas, Social Security, and UNAM unions belong. It will be interesting to see whether the alliance pays off, and how many political resources the UNT can extract from the PRD.
Bolivian crisis
It appears that the crisis in Bolivia has flared up again, this time resulting in the President stepping down. Publius Pundit does a great job of linking to various news and blog sources on the crisis.
In all honesty, I haven’t followed Bolivian politics, so I don’t have much to add. (And I’m too distracted by work here in Mexico to read the necessary 15 news articles to form an informed opinion. At least, I’m honest.) Here are updates from BBC World and The NYTimes.
What is troubling is that this suggests a pattern of increasing instability of political regimes in the region. I’m thinking of the problems in Ecuador earlier this year.
Getting your paper accepted at APSA
Henry over at Crooked Timber has some excellent advice on submitting successful paper proposals for the annual APSA meeting. Much of the advice is useful, and logical if you think about the incentives faced by program organizers.
This was the first year that I had been part of a panel proposal that was not placed on the program. We had three papers from Assistant Professors at diverse institutions and a fourth from a Big Name from a Top School. The discussant an Associate Professor (and future Big Name) from a Mid-ranked School. Granted, our paper proposals were pretty mainstream, so that may explain the outcome. Someone suggested that the proposal got lost between the Divisions. I would be interested to know if this ever happens.
In this case, I doubt it because my colleagues at CIDE had also organized a panel proposal with a couple of Big Names that was not accepted. Both of our panels were probably not accepted because they weren’t compelling proposals. On the other hand, I noticed at least one panel with 4/5 papers from one Ph.D. granting department, which doesn’t demonstrate a lot of diversity.
Therefore, though I’m certain that Section Organizers like Henry are super conscientious and do their best, I’m not certain that there’s still not a little bit of randomness in an imperfect process. This should be heartening for those that don’t get to participate every year.
My mistake was not submitting a separate paper proposal independently as a back-up. If you have more than one paper in the hopper, that would be my advice. Try to submit both as parts of panels or at least one.
Mexican efficiency
I’ve found that the Mexican government (or at least that of the D.F.) can be highly efficient. Today, I stopped by the Fulbright office to pick up some books from Amazon.com. I forgot to put change in the parking meter (honestly), and by the time I returned 20 minutes later, my car had been booted.
Of course, my initial reaction was “Great, this is going to take all day.” I found the address to pay the fine listed on the ticket, and began to walk the 5-6 blocks to the office. Luckily, I had cash on me to pay the $30US fine (normally, I carry more like $20). I asked how long it would take to have the boot removed, and the woman said 20-30 minutes. My interpretation? Prepare to wait 2-3 hours.
As I headed back to the car, I saw the guy taking a boot off another vehicle about 1 block from my car. I stopped and told him I had paid my fine and that my car was a block away. He said he’d already taken the boot off. This was less than 10 minutes after I had paid the fine.
Sure enough, when I got back to my car, the boot was gone.
I was booted at 12:07, returned to my booted car at 12:15, paid my ticket and returned to an un-booted car by 12:45. Who would have thought?
Drug-related homicides continue
Ten more homocides related to drug violence were reported yesterday. Three were executed current or former police. Several others occured at a family get-together in Sinaloa, where an AK-47 or “cuerno de chivo”, and .9mm and .45mm pistols were involved. One of the gunmen arrived at the party, cut the electricity, and then began shooting. The rest were found in other border states with gunshot wounds.
GetBlogs
GetBlogs, a blog directory.
President of the PRI runs 10K race
Over the weekend, the President of the PRI and one of that party’s pre-candidates for President in 2006, participated in a 10K race here in the D.F. Madrazo’s time was 51 minutes, 25 seconds.
From La Jornada
As you can see, Madrazo conveniently had the number 2006 for the race. When asked by reporters if he had requested that number, he said no, that it was assigned him at registration, with a smile. If you buy that, I have a nice pond in Parque Mexico that I’d like to rent to you.
Small parties in 2006
For those interested in the 2006 presidential election, there’s a great article in today’s El Universal that discusses the strategies of the small parties with official recognition for 2006.
A summary:
Partido del Trabajo:
1. Candidatura propia en unión con movimientos sociales.
2. Coalición con Convergencia.
3. Alianza con el PRD y Convergencia. El candidato sería perredista.
4. Aliarse con el PRI.Partido Convergencia:
1. Coalición, con el PRD y con el PT. El candidato sería perredista.
2. Candidatura interna.
3. Candidatura ciudadana o externa. Los probables candidato son hasta ahora Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas y Jorge Castañeda.Partido Verde Ecologista de México
1. Ha presentado ya a su precandidato, Bernardo de la Garza. No se descarta que se una al PRI.Partido Nueva Alianza
1. Candidato propio. La apuesta es obtener el mayor número posible de diputados y senadores.
2. Candidato externo.Partido Alternativa Socialdemócrata
1. Su candidata será Patricia Mercado. No descartan uno externo, entre ellos a Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas y al rector de la UNAM, Juan Ramón de la Fuente. Rechazan a Víctor González y Jorge Castañeda.
Since this will be the first election for the last two parties, they are prohibited from forming a formal alliance with any other party. They will need to present their own candidates.
Of course, it’s interesting to think about the problem from the perspective of the big three parties. When and why do you ally with a smaller party? What do you have to give up in return to get their support? And how do you gauge how many votes such an alliance can bring you?
Absentee voting in 2006
In Mexico. Given the number of Mexicans that reside in the U.S. both legally and illegally, the Mexican government has been debating since 2000 (or maybe even before) the possibility of absentee voting for Mexicans living abroad. I’ve heard stories of many people and personally know at least one person who travelled all the way back to Mexico from the U.S. to vote in the historic 2000 presidential elections.
According to some estimates, nearly 2 million of the 4 million Mexicans estimated to be living in the U.S. with a valid voter ID would be likely to vote in 2006 if legislators approve the proposed electoral reform.
It’s not surprising, then, that Fox’s party, the PAN, has opened a new office in El Paso. The first PAN office was opened at the beginning of May in Chicago, IL.
Spanglish and Beisbol
While in Oaxaca, Brian and I attended my first major league baseball game. In this case, it was major league Mexican baseball. The Oaxaca Warriors (stats) against the Yucatan Lions (stats). We arrived about 30 minutes before the Saturday afternoon game started and bought tickets right behind home plate for $5 each. For a few seconds, there was some uncertainty as I tried to figure out how to say “home plate” to the ticket girl. Luckily, she asked if we wanted tickets “atras del home,” or behind home. By the end of the game, the stadium was 15% full.
The Spanglish only got worse. Members of the crowd would yell phrases that began in Spanish but ended in English, usually for the postions: “Dejalo catcher!” or “Quita el pitcher!” Also, the Umpires yelled “Ball” and “Strike,” like the flashing sign in English in the outfield. I guess if Spanglish is likely to thrive anywhere, it’s in Mexican baseball.
I took some photos of the Oaxaca mascot, who posed for me, after fans yelled at him to tell him I was trying to take his picture. (Specifically, they yelled, “Look, the guera is trying to take your picture” in Spanish.) Actually, he rubbed his fingers together first, pretending to ask for money, then posed for the picture.
They also had a wierd secondary mascot for their Banamex (bank) sponsor, who was dressed as a “businessman” and would appear on the field whenever the cheerleaders came out to dance between some of the innings. He actually ended up seeming more like a wierd, puffy pimp.
You can see my Flickr slideshow with other pics, including a couple of the cheerleaders.
Updated: Brian suggested these links. How could I have not thought of that?
Salon de la Fama
Liga Mexicana de Beisbol
Also updated the post above with links to official and stat sites.
See pictures from Oaxaca
Brian is steady uploading the best pics from Oaxaca on his flickr.com account.
Unfortunately, our SD card with the picture of me with the person in the puffy suit was corrupted, so that gem was lost.
But pics from my first major league baseball game (Mexican league) and their mascot and wierd puffy suit person will be posted and commented upon soon.
Back from Oaxaca!
Whew! We made it back this afternoon. Oaxaca was wonderful. I think we visited nearly every museum, every set of ruins, a baseball game, and two of the nearby artisan towns. Once Brian posts pics to his Flickr account, I will post a link.
For Paul, I had my picture taken with a person in a big foam outfit made to look like the founder of one of the biggest pharmacy chains. It’s a hoot. (Oh, and pictures of the mascots from the baseball game, too.)
In the meantime, there’s a regulation conference tomorrow and Friday here in the D.F., so posting will be minimal.
No posts for 5 days….
….because we’re going to OAXACA!
In election or party news…
Gordillo is shaking things up again within the PRI. Will she resign, or won’t she? And some are predicting the worst.
Also, an interesting interview with Cardenas, in which he criticizes the new CEN of the PRI.
The violence and fingerpointing continues
Wednesday and Thursday, four more people died as a result of organized crime violence in border states. Meanwhile, the governor of Sinolaa has admitted the inability to deal with drug violence, and Fox tried to organize discussions between federal and local authorities there.
With regard to the femicidios in Ciudad Juarez, the AG’s office announced that it would step up efforts to solve cases, and human rights groups were incredulous.
Femicidios have also become a problem in the President’s home state of Guanajuato. In the last five years, at least 168 women have been murdered, and already 23 this year. In Guanaguato, there is no mystery surround the murders as in Ciudad Juarez. Over 70 percent of the victims were murdered by a husband, partner, lover, or co-worker. There the problem is clearly one of interfamily violence.
I wonder, because I’ve never studied it, if studies have investigated whether violence against women increases as women enter the workforce more in more traditional societies. I ask because I believe in the last 20 years, at least, Mexican women have been working outside the home more. Is this a new source of family conflict? Conflicts over money or new friends at work? If someone hasn’t studied it, they should.
Wanted to buy: Items stolen from office
Or so the ad that is posted on this blog reads.
The ad is from a daily paper in Buenos Aires. But as Uzzi points out, it might as well be Mexico.
Let me tell you a short, true story. A friend of Brian’s was on the Mexico City subway with her mobile phone tucked in her blouse pocket. Some teenager grabbed the phone and jumped off the train at one of the stops before she could stop him. Her Mexican friend and she called the phone, and explained that it had important business contacts. This person said they had bought it from someone else for $30US. They offered to buy it for $50 or $100 or whatever. They made a date to meet. The same kid that had stolen the phone showed up. The Mexican friend snatched the phone back from the teenager and told them they shouldn’t steal.
Of course, that’s not as good as the story about the police officer who gave change for a bribe after they bargained down the price of the bribe (supposedly because the gringa did not have that much money with her).
Mexican prices
Dinner delivered: One rotisseried whole (but small) chicken, medium bag of potato chips, 2L coke, and 2 plastic bags full of salsa, generous tip for delivery boy, $7 US$
Tires rotated, balanced, and aligned with state of the art equipment at Firestone (and no, that’s not just me being sarcastic), $28 US$
Entire car washed, polished, and waxed by hand, buffed with buffer, plus tip for worker, $35 US$
Amnesty International on Mexico
The top news in the leftist La Jornada is the annual report issued by Amnesty International. On Mexico, AI says:
Human rights violations persisted, particularly at state level where arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment and the misuse of the judicial system were common. The federal government maintained its commitment to protect and promote human rights nationally and internationally. Legislation was proposed to strengthen human rights protection in the Constitution and the federal criminal justice system. A National Human Rights Programme was drawn up.
Federal intervention to combat violence against women in Ciudad Juárez continued with limited success. Two prisoners of conscience were released after more than a year in custody. A number of human rights defenders were threatened and three journalists were murdered. Progress in the prosecution of those responsible for past human rights violations was limited. Political violence surrounded local elections in various states.
The full entry for Mexico discusses Mexico’s human rights initiatives presented to the UN Commission on Human Rights, stalled and inadequate legislation, and the failure to address political disappearances in some states and the femicidios in Ciudad Juarez.
La Jornada has full coverage of the AI report on their front page.
In a related story, Fox’s spokesperson asserted that the President’s administration is an advocate of human rights protections and worries about the country’s international image. (Certainly. Since tourism is the third largest source of income after petroleum and remittances from workers in the U.S.)
The U.S. was also criticized in the AI report. Here’s an exchange with a reporter by President Bush’s spokesperson.
CineMa…movies for mothers
The largest chain of movie theatres in Mexico has a program called CineMa. On Thursdays and Saturdays at select theatres, they have special screenings in the morning for mothers and their babies. The screening costs the regular adult price of a ticket, though babies are free. The sound is turned down, the lights up a little, and they have valet parking for strollers. They also offer diapers, changing tables, towelettes, and bottle warmers. Though the movies are new movies, they are chosen for “young mothers” and their babies. So the current movie is Ice Princess. It’s a start anyway.
