The here and now... and what and why

Complacency is a trap. At least that’s what I was thinking when I up and left the comfort of a Yankee prep school gig, where I taught music, amongst other things, for 28 years. There was also that life long career as a composer, musician and artist.

First, it was a year in St. Thomas, USVI, working as a reporter and shooting photography and then, a year in San Agustin Etla, Oaxaca, Mexico.
Time passed.
More time passed and a year back in the Athens of America followed by a hasty return to Oaxaca where it is all happening.
A couple of years in San Sebastian Etla and now, just down the road in San Pablo Etla. Life is good.

Click on an image to see it larger.
For additional photography please visit my flickr page.
You can find my music on Jango (World & latin - Worldbeat) and at iTunes and most online stores.
¡Soy consciente de todas las tradiciones del Internet!
If you are coming to Oaxaca, please contact me for tours or advice.

Santo Domingo

Santo Domingo
The view from Corazon del Pueblo

The hereafter re me

My photo
Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico
Musician, photographer, videographer, reporter, ex-officio teacher, now attempting to be a world traveler

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

State of the State

Here is a story from McClatchy about the mess that the new governor inherited. 
When Gabino Cue took the reins last month as the governor of the poverty-stricken, conflict-prone southern state of Oaxaca, he expected a Pandora's box of ills to confront him.

After all, he'd toppled a candidate of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI in its Spanish initials), an entrenched force that had ruled Oaxaca without interruption for 81 years and employed patronage, vote rigging and brute force to exert its power.
But even the savvy Cue found himself stunned at the condition of state government that he inherited after he took the oath of office Dec. 1.
"There were no computers," he recalled. "We found that the staff payroll didn't match who actually was working. ...The bank statements were out of balance. The state automotive fleet was in terrible shape."
On his way out the door, outgoing PRI Gov. Ulises Ruiz installed dozens of loyalists in state jobs with union protection even though they had no jobs to perform, Cue said. Ruiz also offered gifts to key allies, among them the head of the state electoral commission, for unexplained "services rendered."
Read the whole story.  It is an interesting read.  Has a familiar ring to it, doesn't it?  Not only were the "W's" missing off the keyboards, but the whole computer was missing. I know, I know, a little snarky.

The previous administration was probably one of the worst in Mexico's history and that is saying something.  It will be interesting to see if there is any accountability, unlike the US. Sometimes a country must look backwards, as well as forwards.

Incidentally, the author of the story, Tim Johnson, has an interesting blog called Mexico Unmasked, one of my daily reads.

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