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

Monday, July 2, 2012

That's that

As most people had predicted, Enrique Pena Nieto of the Institutional Revolutionary Party is Mexico's newly elected president.  He garnered 37.4 percent of votes, followed by Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the Party of the Democratic Revolution who got 32.4 percent.

Josefina Vazquez Mota of the currently ruling center-right National Action Party (PAN) earned 25.4 percent and Gabriel Quadri de la Torre of the New Alliance ended up with 2 percent.

Tim Johnson of McClatchy has a good write up.
President Felipe Calderon, whose PAN lost badly in Sunday’s vote after 12 years of rule, promised an “orderly, transparent and efficient” transition.
Many Mexicans voted in a sour mood over drug-war violence and an economy only recently gaining steam. They were ready to give a new chance to a party that ruled from 1929 until 2000, casting aside concerns over its autocratic past....
Many Mexicans feel frustration at the past 12 years of rule by the National Action Party, which failed to usher in wholesale reforms of a PRI-designed political system....
“At the end, the lasting impression is of enormous wasted opportunity,” Jorge Zepeda Patterson, a political scientist and columnist, wrote in the El Universal newspaper Sunday.
Pena Nieto (is) a boyish-looking 45-year-old married to a television soap opera star.  The one-time margin of some 30 percent that Pena Nieto held over his rivals a year ago diminished sharply during the three-month formal campaign. But the candidate, handsome and genial, drew swoons on the campaign trail, with women clasping at his forearms at campaign rallies, leaving red welts.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/07/01/154608/mexicos-once-dominant-party-announces.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/07/01/154608/mexicos-once-dominant-party-announces.html#storylink=cpy
 So there you have it.  We will have to wait an see what happens.  How will Oaxaca fare under this new administration?  Outgoing president Calderon kept an eye on the place and helped out financially after former governor Ulises raided the treasury. 

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/07/01/154608/mexicos-once-dominant-party-announces.html#storylink=cpy

Then there is this from the LA Times
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the veteran leftist leader in second place in Mexico's presidential election, says he will wait for a final vote count before deciding whether to concede.

He announced that he would not concede defeat on election night in Mexico. For many, it was an instant flashback to 2006, the last presidential election in which Lopez Obrador refused to accept defeat, declaring fraud and sparking a series of protests that paralyzed Mexico City.
Incidentally, Oaxaca, the state, went big time for AMLO with 43.5% of the votes, one of the few states that did.

I
Read
more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/07/01/154608/mexicos-once-dominant-party-announces.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com01/154608/mexicos-once-dominant-party-announces.html#storylink=c

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/07/01/154608/mexicos-once-dominant-party-announces.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/07/01/154608/mexicos-once-dominant-party-announces.html#storylink=cpy

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Why was everyone jumping so quickly to crown Peña Nieto? Last night in the IFE quick count he led only by 6%. There is a 7% margin of error. He was in the lead but it was not decisive.

Was there an over enthusiastic rush to the conclusion that the mainstream mexican media assumed and drove months ago. As a commentator said last night, "television can make a president just as it can make TV stars from bad actors". However it cannot make good football players from bad because there are still decent refreees.