Just Tacos and Sombreros?

I have now been in Mexico for a month, and just about each of my preconceived notions has been shattered: surely there is a mañana spirit somewhere, but surely not in Monterrey, a city founded by Jews and still known as the most intense place this side of the Panama canal. If Taco Bell was the only “Mexican food” you have ever tasted, then you know as much about the food here as those who have sung Edelweiss know about Austrian music: the cooking here is rich, varied, colourful- simply fantastic. I had also been warned about the heat but even that was- well, not quite a disappointment- but at least a pleasant surprise: 35 degrees max, and that mostly dry.

Monterrey is a large city- Vienna is my benchmark, so everything with more than 2 million inhabitants is big, and Monterrey has 3 million. It is surrounded by mountains which gives you pleasant views from just about everywhere. It is also wealthy, with lots of industry (steel, brewing, service), so you could miss the fact that 40% of Mexico’s 111 million population needs to survive on 2 dollars a day. The other week I had a chance to go to Acapulco, which meant I flew over Mexico City, or the D.F. (Federal District), as they call it. Twenty three million people in one urban area; this is the most extreme case of what constitutes one of the issues of Mexico, namely a highly urbanized society with 77% living in cities.

I loved Acapulco: it is a beautiful bay on the Pacific Ocean which had seen it’s heyday in the 80s when lots of Americans chose it as their holiday destination. Now it is a bit like the Brighton of Mexico, mainly visited by Mexicans, charming in its dishevelled beauty. Since I was hosted by friends, I got to see the “Mexican side” of the city. The bay, especially once you go out by boat, is simply spectacular. While cruising and singing a friend pointed out to me Carlos Slim’s home: he is the world’s richest man and his wealth equals about 8% of Mexico’s gross domestic product. In other words inequality is enormous, so that Mexico is the 28^th most unequal country with a Gini coefficient of 48.2.

The hotel I was staying in also hosted twenty or so “federales” i.e. state police, men armed to the teeth and specially dispatched to fight the “narcos”, the drug lords. We were warned not to leave the property, and the news of that weekend made it clear why: five policemen had been gunned down and two people’s heads were delivered in plastic bags with special notes from the drug barons. Acapulco is not alone: Monterrey has seen people being kidnapped, mugged, shot and savagely slaughtered, all in broad daylight- not to speak of the infamous border city of Juarez. All this has made people fearful, nervous and some of them wonder whether the fight that the president has gotten himself into is worth it.

Last week I went out for dinner with a friend, and we had the famous “cabrito” (grilled goat)- simply delicious. He is deeply concerned about the political situation in the country. But when we talked it became clear that he saw no hope for change: the political system seems to be a closed and impenetrable shop and the average Mexican sees no other way to influence society. When I asked him about the Third Sector he was not sure what I was referring to. Upon further research I found out that Mexico has the smallest non-profit sector of any Latin American country: it employs 0.4% of all employees, compared to 2.2% in Brazil and 12.6% in the Netherlands. In other words, for historic and cultural reasons which I would not dare to explain, Civil Society is poorly developed. As a result events like the recent kidnappings leave people totally helpless, unable to exercise political, economic or moral influence toward change. Consequently you watch, powerless, while you eat hot food and while the sun sets over the beautiful mountains. Surely there is another way…