Mexico Institute: February Highlights

The Mexico Institute, February 2012

Each month, the Mexico Institute will review and highlight the month’s activities and feature them here. Visitors will be able to watch the recap from our most recent events, browse our new publications, and read articles that feature key media appearances of the Mexico Institute staff. We hope you will find this review useful and informative. Enjoy!

 Analysis

• February 21, Traveling the Texas-Mexico Border
  Eric Olson and Chris Wilson of the Mexico Institute recently traveled the length of the Texas-Mexico border, beginning in El Paso/Ciudad Juarez and ending in Brownsville/Matamoros.  The two have blogged about their experiences noting the implications of the current security situation that faces cities on both sides of the border.
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• February 14, Is Mexico ready for a woman President?
  Eric Olson and Diana Murray Watts comment on the presidential candidate chosen by the PAN party.
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• February 3, Innovation and Development in Mexico: The Promising Road Ahead
  Miguel Salazar writes a report about advances in Mexico and challenges to progress the country will continue to face.  
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• February 1, A Review of “My Country:Insights to Understand and Change Mexico”
  Eric L. Olson, Senior Associate at the Mexico institute, has reviewed Denise Dresser’s book titled “My Country: Insights to Understand and Change Mexico.”
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• February, “The Week in Review” Every week, Katie Putnam analyses and summarizes political events that have occurred in Mexico as the country prepares for its national elections in July. The reviews form part of the Mexico Institute’s Election’s Guide. February’s “Week in Review” includes the weeks of:February 6, February 13, February 20, and February 27

• January 18, Five Questions about Mexico and U.S.-Mexico Relations in 2012
  Andrew Selee, Director of the Mexico Institute, analyses the potential of 2012 in Mexico.
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Publications

• February 14, Working Together: Economic Ties between the United States and Mexico
  Christopher E. Wilson writes this report that looks at the ways in which regional economic cooperation can enhance competitiveness, stimulate growth and create jobs.
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• February 1, Mexico: A Middle Class Society, Poor No More, Developed Not Yet
  Luis de la Calle and Luis Rubio gather data and statistics that show how Mexican society has changed in fundamental ways, acquiring a strong sense of property and ownership, as well as the conviction that society has the right to preserve what it has earned with much effort.  
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• January, Our Shared Border:Success Stories in U.S.-Mexico Collaboration
  Robert Donnelly commends the extraordinary achievements of the four winners and eight finalists of the Border Research Partnership’s 2011 Awards for U.S.-Mexico Cross-Border Cooperation and Innovation.  
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Events

• February 8: “Mexico Economy Structurally Sound, in Spite of Modest Growth”
   Mexico’s economy is on solid footing, with a mid-term outlook calling for modest growth outpacing modest inflation, former Mexico Finance Minister Pedro Aspe told an audience at The Wilson Center on Wednesday. Aspe cited renewed competitiveness in the Mexican manufacturing sector, especially in light industrial goods, and a projected decrease in the country’s labor surplus as reasons behind the optimism. He was speaking as part of the Wilson Center Mexico Institute’s Diálogos con México/Dialogues with Mexico speakers series.  
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• February 14:  “North American Integration Essential to Renewed U.S. Manufacturing Prowess?”
  Unlike China or Europe, Mexico and Canada are fundamentally different trading partners to the United States. They more closely resemble side-by-side workers on a common assembly line than transactional buyers and sellers separated by long distances. Working Together argues that enhanced economic integration can help meet the goal of doubled U.S. exports by 2015, sustain jobs throughout North America, and sharpen the region’s competitiveness against other world blocs. At the report’s launch, author Chris Wilson of the Mexico Institute also stressed the largely unpublicized benefits Mexico trade poses for interior U.S. districts far from the southern border.
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• February 21: “Dependent America? How Canada and Mexico Construct U.S. Power”
  Stephen Clarkson and Matto Mildenberger explored the extent to which U.S. power is a function of its capacity to mobilize other states’ material and moral support. The authors presented the book with commentary by several influential economists and professors. This event was co-sponsored with the Canada Institute of the Woodrow Wilson Center.
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News

• February 10, “Mexico Seizes Record Amount of Methamphetamine”
  Methamphetamine was seized from the Sinaloa cartel. An amount of meth this large shows more what the cartel may be capable of.  
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• February 6, “Mexican Ruling Party Picks Woman as Presidential Candidate”
  Josefina Vázquez Mota was elected to be the presidential candidate for PAN. This is the first time a woman has been a presidential candidate for one of the major parties in Mexico.  
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• February 4, “Violence Levels Off in Some Parts of Mexico, but Spreads to Others”
  Violence remains high in border areas, and grows in other areas of Mexico. President Calderón continues his plan to go after cartel leaders as critics question the effectiveness of his plan.  
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