Monthly Archives: November 2018

Luis Rubio Governmental changes are always paradoxical: one administration exits knowing that it did not achieve what it had proposed and another begins believing that the moon and the stars are within its reach. Whatsoever the nation or the moment in history, political transitions are always a study in contrasts between optimism and pessimism, derailed […]

Luis Rubio Nostalgia is strikingly afoot. The government of Enrique Peña Nieto is finally over, and another is about to begin, about which it will surely be more difficult to find reasons to laugh. In this regard there is a great parallel between Peña and Nixon. Nixon was a strange person, mistrustful, taciturn and Machiavellian. […]

 Luis Rubio The government that (finally…) is at the point of concluding lived besieged by what the president himself called the “bad social mood.” This is a vague concept that allows the transference of responsibility to others: It is not my fault but that of the population who does not understand. Using that measuring stick, […]

AMERICAS QUARTERLY Web Exclusive How AMLO’s Airport Decision Signals a Return to Mexico’s Past BY LUIS RUBIO | NOVEMBER 6, 2018 The end of Mexico City’s airport project reveals much about how AMLO will govern, writes the chairman of Mexico’s Council on Foreign Relations. Mexico’s President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador likes to frame his coming presidency as the […]

Luis Rubio All presidents feel themselves destined to change the world, but none has achieved this in the last half century. What difference will the next one make? Recent presidents tried everything: exacerbated public spending (Echeverría and López Portillo), pacts (Miguel de la Madrid and Peña Nieto), alliances (Salinas), agreements (Zedillo) and treaties (like NAFTA). […]