Yearly Archives: 2023

Luis Rubio All societies develop their myths and beliefs as ways of explaining life, but in Mexico these often fall short of reality. Someone once stated that if Kafka were Mexican, he would have been a narrator of everyday life. In that spirit, here are some observations that, without telling a coherent story, say a […]

Luis Rubio Order and disorder, argues Robert Kaplan,* comprises a dilemma not dependent on the individual, but on their lived experience. It took England 700 years to evolve from the Magna Carta to women’s suffrage, with many exceedingly violent struggles along the way. Democratic traditions, as illustrated by the so-called Arab Spring a little more […]

 Luis Rubio Everything was going well when the madness began. The desire to transform had been limited to eliminating obstacles that did not enjoy greater popular recognition and expanding cash transfers to favorite clienteles. Both steps responded to an impeccable logic: if it does not enjoy legitimacy, it can be eliminated at a minimum cost, […]

  Discourse vs. Reality Luis Rubio What carries the day: the discourse or the reality? The discourse says “we’re doing well,” “I have other data,” “for the good of all, first the poor.” The reality, however, says something else: the country is not progressing, unemployment has spiked, poverty has increased, education deteriorates even more so, […]

Luis Rubio To dream about achieving Nirvana in record time is always grandiose; to convince voters that this endeavor is possible, within reach, is what politicians do, above all campaigning candidates, all around the globe. If that is seasoned with attractive ideas such as a world without corruption and inequality, the approach would seem to […]

Luis Rubio In the official version, the only thing left to define the next six years is the name of the Morena candidate (corcholata) awarded the requisite finger tap (dedazo) by the president. If that were so simple, why such intrigue, so many legislative changes, such a barrage of disqualifications and so great an onslaught […]

Luis Rubio A virtue of the President that merits recognition is transparency: in contrast with his recent predecessors, there is full congruence between his discourse and his vision of the country and of the function of politics and its relationship with the economy. He tells it as he sees it. Different from his forerunners, he […]

Luis Rubio What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object?  Fentanyl in the United States is not only an electoral issue, but one of survival for its society. Although it is clear that the key to the enigma lies in the circumstances that lead to its consumption (of this and other drugs that […]

Luis Rubio The purpose is evident. The question is whether it dovetails with the needs of the citizenry, which, clearly, are not the needs of those who redacted the new bill of law. The “initiative in administrative matters of the federal executive branch” is the dream of any bureaucrat: the government decides what is done, […]

Luis Rubio At the beginning of the year 2000 Mexico was facing a crossroads. The electoral contest was taking shape, the electoral institutions had been duly installed, and the expectation, overly justified, was that the electoral jousts  would be clean, competitive and pacific. However, no one knew what the result of the election would be. […]