John Ross
Las Americas
Los Presidenciables
On July 2, an estimated 70 million Mexicans will be eligible to vote to select a successor to President Vicente Fox. Under Mexican law, Fox cannot run for re-election. The 2006 presidential elections promise to be the most competitive and … Read More
Las Americas
The Cross-Border Electoral Boogie
Every Tuesday after work they gather in the backroom of a politically hip café to guzzle cappuccinos, write manifestos, paint banners, and otherwise plot how best to beat Bush in November. They are a rainbow bunch—students and matrons and old … Read More
Las Americas
Mexicanizing the Mara
Angel and William had set out the week before from the slums of San Pedro Sula, Honduras, and gotten as far as the Guatemalan-Mexican border on thumb and hoof. “One night, we had to walk until it was light out. … Read More
Las Americas
Scenes from the Corn Wars
Here in this part of the world, the corn was born. The House of Maize is in our lands,” explained the earnest young Zapotec Indian leader. He was reading from the manifesto, “In Defense of Our Corn,” that had been … Read More
Las Americas
Happy Birthday Death!
It was February 15 and this reporter was hunting for a demonstration to cover. A year ago to the date, an estimated 12,000,000 citizens of the world had marched against George Bush’s impending invasion of Iraq, a number worthy of … Read More
Las Americas
by John Ross
Ten years ago, Mexico put its Juan Hancock on the NAFTA free trade treaty with Washington and Ottawa, thereby transforming itself into the southernmost region of North America rather than the northernmost outpost of Latin America, an address change that … Read More
Las Americas
Tricky Dick's NAFTA for Energy
Although last month’s historic blackout shut down crucial industrial and financial centers in two out of the three North American Energy Alliance nations and killed the prospects for the privatization of electricity in a third, consolidating that strategic alliance continues … Read More