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Mexico & Nafta - June 2008 (ISSN 1741-444X)
Looming large
Mexico is looming rather more largely than usual in US politicians'
minds for two reasons. The first is the unprecedented level of drug-related
violence in northern Mexico. This affects the US in two ways: the first is that
the normal cross-border flow of people is being disrupted; the second is that US
senators and congressmen are considering the anti-drugs package, known as the
Iniciativa Mérida, proposed by the US administration. Both houses of congress
have made their own suggestions on how the package should be delivered. The
second reason why Mexico is more important than usual to US politicians is that
Mexican-Americans are, potentially, a decisive (and so far uncommitted)
constituency in the US electorate. Mexican Americans' apparent hostility to
Barack Obama, the likely Democratic party presidential candidate, means that
California, traditionally a Democrat bastion, figures in the list of
battleground states for the presidential election in November. California, with
57 votes in the presidential electoral college, is the biggest single prize in
the election.
- Calderón turns populist
- Salinas dismisses Zedillo and Fox as lost decade
- Mexicans believe the drugs gangs are winning
- Calderón goes for consensus reform
- Worries about inflation
- PEMEX REFORM: Ominous signs
- Looming large
- THE VIEW FROM MEXICO: Mexico complains about US monitoring
- THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: Obama and Latin America