New York Times: For Mexican Leaders, a Turbulent Start to the New Year Elisabeth Malkin - The New York Times
go to original January 6, 2017

Throes set in, as Mexico looks to New Year and new era of ties with U.S (New China TV)

Six days into the new year, Mexico already has little to be happy about.

This week a jump in gasoline prices unleashed widespread protests that spiraled into looting. The country received an ominous warning that President-elect Donald J. Trump’s protectionist rhetoric could have concrete effects when Ford Motor canceled a $1.6 billion investment. The peso fell to its lowest level ever.

The new turmoil promises to make this year even more difficult for President Enrique Peña Nieto, whose approval ratings have already plunged below 25 percent.

He returned from a golf vacation on Wednesday and appealed for unity as images ricocheted across social media of people carting away televisions from Walmarts and stealing snack foods from stalled delivery trucks.

Protests continued on Thursday, as demonstrators blocked highways and gas stations. Scattered looting continued, and marches are planned for this weekend to demand a reversal of the price increases. The president’s explanation that the gasoline increase of almost 20 percent was necessary to maintain economic stability did nothing to calm the outrage. “Even in good times, it is a problematic decision” to raise gasoline prices, Vidal Romero, a political analyst at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico, said. “And this is a very bad moment.”

Uncertainty has roiled Mexico as the government waits to see how far Mr. Trump will go to keep his campaign promises to renegotiate or tear up the North American Free Trade Agreement, deport Mexican migrants and build a border wall.

Read the rest at The New York Times

Related: Peña Nieto Invokes National Unity to Face 2017 Challenges (Prensa Latina)

Related: Protests, Trump Threats: A Rocky New Year for Mexico (Yahoo)

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