Economist.com Cities Guide: Mexico City Briefing - April 2006

News this month

The presidential visit

Despite George Bush's trip to Mexico at the end of March, for a summit meeting with Vicente Fox, Mexico's president, and Stephen Harper, the new prime minister of Canada, there was little progress on the central issue of immigration. The meeting took place the same week that America's Congress began arguments over what to do with the country's estimated 11m illegal immigrants, half of whom come from Mexico; the House called for greater barriers, while the Senate approved a bill that would let such immigrants become guest workers and even citizens. While Mr Bush shares the views of the moderates on this issue, he has been unable to convince the Republican Party faithful in Congress to go along in an election year.

This is distressing for most Mexicans. The three-nation summit brought so little progress that many now have the impression that Mr Bush went to Cancún, saw some ruins and stayed in a fancy resort. Adding insult to injury, Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman, often referred to Paul Martin as Canada's prime minister, though he is Mr Harper's predecessor.

Wire-tapped

Mario Marín Torres, governor of the state of Puebla, which sits on Mexico City's eastern boundary, is facing calls for his resignation. At issue is a recorded phone conversation in which he is allegedly thanked for having police arrest Lydia Cacho, a respected, Cancún-based author and women's advocate. The other voice is thought to be Kamel Nacif, a wealthy Lebanese-Mexican factory owner, whom Ms Cacho claimed was involved with a ring of paedophiles and child pornographers in a book published last summer. She alleged that Mr Nacif, among others, was involved in producing child porn. In March Ms Cacho filed charges against Messrs Marín and Nacif, and Mexico's lower house of Congress has passed a resolution calling for Mr Marín's resignation. Criminal charges seem likely to follow.

Wily Fox

Owing to term limits, Mr Fox is unable to run in July's presidential elections, and it is illegal for elected officials to campaign in Mexico. Still, he has been appearing in a blitz of radio and television advertisements boasting that “the country has now changed”, referring to his 2000 victory over the PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party), which ruled Mexico for over 70 years. These ads are thinly disguised support for Felipe Calderón, the candidate of Mr Fox's National Action Party (PAN). His critics maintain that his campaigning is unfair and deceptive. Such objections have come from both the PRI and the centre-left PRD (Party of the Democratic Revolution), whose candidate, Andrés Manuel Lopéz Obrador, is the front-runner and the former mayor of Mexico City. Such criticism bore fruit on April 3rd when the country's Supreme Court voted overwhelmingly to order Mr Fox to stop running the ads while the presidential campaign is in progress.

Monopoly money

Also ahead of the presidential elections, Mexico's Senate has approved a bill that will overhaul the regulation of television and radio. Since only two companies, Televisa and TV Azteca, own some 90% of the market and both the PAN and PRI are keen to be in favour with them, matters are not expected to change very much. Proponents of the bill, passed by the lower house of Congress in December, admit that it is imperfect. But they argue that it is still an improvement on existing legislation, which dates from the 1970s.

Although the bill's sponsors managed to slide it through the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate had an unusually strident debate over the law—splitting both the PAN and the PRI; only the PRD, which was against the bill, remained united. It may all have been a waste of time: analysts say big media advertising campaigns will have a smaller effect than ever this election cycle.

Deaths on the road

According to the Association for Safe International Road Travel, there are 10.4 deaths for every 100m kilometres driven in Mexico, compared with one fatality for the same distance in America. Mexico's roads are congested, poorly designed and badly built; road safety is, at best, an afterthought. As if to highlight this problem, in recent weeks there have been two serious accidents on the highway from Mexico City to Pachuca in Hidalgo state: a bus crashed on March 17th, killing seven students, and a bus swerved out of control on April 1st, slaying nine people.

Catch if you can

April 2006

Inventing a Modern Mexico: the design of Clara Porset

Until May 29th 2006

A civilisation can be defined by its furniture, the curators of this show seem to argue. Clara Porset, a Cuban designer, helped pioneer industrial design in the mid-20th century, often fusing it with traditional Mexican aesthetics. This show at the Museo Franz Mayer claims to chart the invention of modern Mexico through her chairs, tables and desks.

The collection is well worth visiting: Porset’s designs are cleverly curvaceous, and the show's plaques are surprisingly entertaining (such as when they declare the chairs to be “uniquely Mexican, yet also international”). Still, walking through rooms full of chairs that you are forbidden to sit in may grow frustrating. Seek relief in the permanent collection, which offers a calm oasis in the middle of a bustling city.

Museo Franz Mayer, Av. Hidalgo 45, Centro Histórico. Tel +52 (55) 5518-2266. Open: Tues-Sun 10am-5pm (Wed until 7pm). Admission: 34 pesos. See the museum’s website for more information.

More from the Mexico City cultural calendar