Mexico-California cleavage? Absolut drinks to that!

Back to the Blog after a few days off! Use these entries as a way to think and review about Mexico's past and future. Remember, we test on the United States of Mexico on Tuesday. Do not confuse the geography with the political culture divide illustrated in the above vodka marketing campaign:

The latest advertising campaign in Mexico from Swedish vodka maker Absolut promises to push all the right buttons south of the U.S. border, but it could ruffle a few feathers in El Norte.The billboard and press campaign, created by advertising agency Teran\TBWA and now running in Mexico, is a colorful map depicting what the Americas might look like in an "Absolut" -- i.e., perfect -- world.

The U.S.-Mexico border lies where it was before the Mexican-American war of 1848 when California, as we now know it, was Mexican territory and known as Alta California.

Following the war, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo saw the Mexican territories of Alta California and Santa Fé de Nuevo México ceded to the United States to become modern-day California, Texas, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado and Arizona.

The campaign taps into the national pride of Mexicans, according to Favio Ucedo, creative director of leading Latino advertising agency Grupo Gallegos in the U.S.

Ucedo, who is from Argentina, said: “Mexicans talk about how the Americans stole their land, so this is their way of reclaiming it. It’s very relevant and the Mexicans will love the idea.”

But he said that were the campaign to run in the United States, it might fall flat.

“Many people aren’t going to understand it here. Americans in the East and the North or in the center of the county -- I don’t know if they know much about the history.

“Probably Americans in Texas and California understand perfectly and I don’t know how they’d take it.”

Meanwhile, the campaign has been circulating on the blogs and generating strong responses from people north of the border.

“I find this ad deeply offensive, and needlessly divisive. I will now make a point of drinking other brands. And 'vodka and tonic' is my drink,” said one visitor, called New Yorker, on MexicoReporter.com.

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Enviromental rules waived for Mexican border fence

The LA Times reports this week that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security plans to waive federal and state enviromental laws to finish more than 670 miles of barrier fencing along the U.S.-Mexican border.

The two waivers, which were approved by Congress, will allow Homeland Security to slash through a thicket of more than 30 environmental and cultural laws to speed construction.

Environmentalists and local officials have strenuously opposed some of the planned infrastructure projects, saying they will damage the land and disrupt wildlife.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/la-na-fence2apr02,0,876305.story

Consider the legitimacy of "Rule of Law" here. Once again, is this a theoretical, relative and conceptual term in today today's practice of politics/governing.

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The power of national symbols

Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) is an important bit of national pride and a symbol of Mexico's revolution and independence. However, like many parastatals and huge corporations, it's not as "agile" as smaller businesses in adapting to changing economic, technological, and environmental conditions.

Presidents Fox and Calderón have urged constitutional changes to allow private and even foreign companies to enter the oil industry in Mexico. Reactions of most Mexican politicians have not been kind to those proposals. (Tinkering with national symbols isn't easy. In the USA, think about reactions to proposals that the Star Spangled Banner be replaced with something less militaristic.) Besides there are all those jobs to "hand out."

Business Week magazine puts a good face on the presidential proposals, but acknowledges that the issue is far from resolved.

Mexico may let foreign cos. extract oil

"Mexico's ruling party wants to allow the state oil monopoly to contract with private and foreign companies to extract reserves from the Gulf of Mexico...

"The proposal comes amid a fierce debate over how to reform the country's energy sector and boost Pemex's production."Mexico's constitution bans most private and foreign involvement in the sector, but in practice, the government has eased the restrictions slightly in the past 15 years..."

Pemex lacks the equipment and expertise to develop deep-water oil fields..."Pemex's production has been steadily falling, dropping 5.3 percent to an average 3.1 million barrels a day in 2007 -- primarily due to plunging output at its biggest-yielding field, Cantarell.

"But opponents say the government is manipulating figures to create a false sense of crisis."

Former presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the leftist Democratic Revolution Party has said that opening Pemex to private investment would threaten national sovereignty, and he has accused Calderón's administration of seeking to privatize the entire oil industry -- a charge the president denies..."

See also: Celebrations, protests, and questions