Reforms and the Continuing Division Between Mexico's Rich and Poor Eduardo Caccia - Reforma
go to original December 16, 2013

“Valderrama (…) came counting crosses spread across roads and pathways, in the cracks of rocks, in the winding paths of the streams, on the banks of the river. Crosses of recently varnished black wood, crosses forged from two logs; crosses made of piled stones, crosses painted with lime on the ruined walls, humble crosses drawn with charcoal onto the edges of rocks…the traces of blood of the first revolutionaries in 1910, murdered by the government.”

This passage of destruction will soon reach its 100th anniversary. Metaphorically, we could be speaking of present-day Mexico. In "Los de Abajo" ("Those Below", 1916), Mariano Azuela described the crude reality of a country soaked with blood, lacking unity, with enormous inequality between the social classes, and cultural and educational primitivism; a country wanting to leave behind an ancestral backwardness. But the bottom line is that this year there are still paths of crosses on the road and the same accounts to settle.

Having accomplished the passing of the principal reforms promoted by President Peña Nieto, the challenge now is that the benefits reach people's wallets and result in better living conditions. Without this, the governmental rhetoric will continue selling hope. The true distribution of national wealth is that which spreads it across a country to create more and better employment opportunities, stronger institutions and businesses, and better conditions for national and foreign investments whose benefits can actually reach Mexican society.

What would Mariano Azuela think upon knowing that the Mexico facing the beginning of the year 2014 occupies, world-wide, last place in academic achievement and first place in kidnappings?

Read the rest at Mexico Voices

Translated by Jillian Droste

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