Yearly Archives: 2019

Luis Rubio Argentina began the twentieth century with the highest GDP per capita in Latin America, very similar to that of the United States at that time; a century later, the South American nation is in the 53rd place. As an Argentine friend says, “whoever says things cannot get any worse, does not know Argentina,” […]

Luis Rubio In one of the final episodes of The Simpsons, the soporific and befuddled octogenarian Abe is recruited to cross the picket line and break a strike at a nuclear plant. His tactic: to confuse, if not to lull, the strikers by telling them stories that make no sense at all so as to […]

Luis Rubio The letter sent by President López Obrador to President Trump can have many readings, but one great certainty: it is a document designed from and for domestic political purposes and, in those terms, it has been a great success. In addition to the popular support behind the president, which has been massive from […]

 Luis Rubio There is no more pressing problem in Mexico than the stalemate between the capacities of the government (federal, state and municipal) and the requirements imposed upon on it by the government itself than the urgency of procuring development. Thanks to the differences between the government’s real capacities (increasingly fewer) and the demand for […]

  WilsonCenter Mexico Institute Luis Rubio  There was a time when the United States understood that its foremost national interest lay in having a prosperous, successful neighbor. That stood in stark contrast with the traditional Mexican perspective, which saw the US as the country’s foremost foe. NAFTA made it possible to align both nations’ interests […]

Luis Rubio Fears, interests, inertia and a great dose of myopia impeded the country from carrying out an integral transformation in the past four decades. Reforms of diverse sorts, some more profound than others, but always in partial fashion, were promoted: there were always limitations and powerful interests that biased the reform processes for the […]

Luis Rubio The government is confronting unmistakable challenges in the most diverse ambits, for which it does not have reasonable or viable solutions. Insecurity, inequality, poverty and the lack of growth, to mention only a few, are nodal problems that the country has been up against for decades –if not centuries‑ and that are unlikely […]

Luis Rubio Not at all surprising is the existence of tensions between the needs of the economy to be able to progress and the demands imposed by the population by means of democratic actions. In order to attract investments and create conditions for progress, governments must restrain themselves in budgetary matters and avoid distortions such […]

Luis Rubio The president is pushing quickly ahead on all fronts. In the economic sphere, he has neutralized, dismantled or weakened practically all the entities designed to regulate investments and the functioning of markets, including electricity, hydrocarbons as well as the boards of directors of the state’s “productive” enterprises and the development banks. Even before […]

WORLD CRUNCH/AMERICA ECONOMIA Luis Rubio   Mexico And The Problem Of ‘Privilege Violence’ If President López Obrador really wants to give his country peace and security, he’ll need to tackle criminal complicity among the powers that be. MEXICO CITY — Violence ends up destroying or at the very least transforming civilizations. So what can be done to […]