Establishing a country's identity is a big deal.
Name Change Is Suggested for Other ‘U.S.’
With just over a week left in office, the president of Mexico has offered perhaps the boldest proposal of his six-year tenure. He wants Mexico to just be “Mexico.”
The formal name of the country is Estados Unidos Mexicanos, often translated as “United Mexican States” or “United States of Mexico.”
It is the “Estados Unidos” that nags at President Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa… and he wants it out, once and for all. It happens to be the Spanish name of the big neighbor up north…
Now it is time, [Calderón] said, for Mexico to step out of the shadow of the United States, at least in name.
“Mexico does not need a name that emulates another country and that none of us Mexicans use every day,” he said Thursday at a morning announcement at the presidential residence…
Making it so, however, will take a constitutional change…
5 comments:
BTW, Calderon's time in office ends this weekend, as Mexico's presidents are limited to a single six-year term.
For most of his tenure, Mr. Calderón has enjoyed close ties with American officials. He took tried to take on Mexican drug cartels with mixed success:
http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/29/world/americas/mexico-president/
CNN reports that the outgoing president may be coming to Harvard:
"Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government announced Wednesday that the outgoing Mexican president will spend the next year as a global public leaders fellow at the school.
"President Calderon is a vivid example of a dynamic and committed public servant, who took on major challenges in Mexico," David T. Ellwood, the school's dean, said in a statement.
Hours after the announcement, a Mexican researcher who is studying ethics and corruption at Harvard this year said university officials should reconsider the move.
"I am alarmed that Harvard will protect a person as unethical as Felipe Calderon," Irma E. Sandoval wrote in a Twitter post.
Sandoval, who is a fellow this year at Harvard's Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics and also heads a corruption and transparency research laboratory at Mexico's National Autonomous University, said she was hoping students, staff and faculty at Harvard would join her in protesting Calderon's appointment.
The outgoing president, she told CNN, does not deserve the one-year fellowship.
"He is handing over a country in flames," she said."
I find it interesting that Mexican Presidents can only serve a single six year term. Say a President was doing really well and could do even better if he had say eight years.
I think Calderon tried to do his best at taking down Mexican Drug Cartels, but I think its just a huge problem that not one man can change in six years. I think it takes generations to overcome such violence such as this, and Calderon did a halfway decent job in trying to start to defeat the cartels.
As for his proposition to change the name, I dont think it really matter for us. It might be a pride issue with Mexicans. But we always call Mexico, Mexico.
Overall Calderon was a good President considering the efforts he has done against all the problems that plague Mexico. Perhaps the most notable thing he has done is bring Mexico almost to the point of being a Western power. It will take the next generation of leadership to advance Calderon's initiatives.Although I kinda find it counter productive to go through the hassle of changing the name of Mexico when people just recognize it as Mexico.
While Calderon was an excellent President, as Rohan pointed out, only so much can be done in one term. "Rome wasn't built in a day". Similarly, a string of excellent Presidents are needed for lasting accomplishments.
Frankly, I have mixed feelings about Felipe Calderon. The war on drugs has been less than successful until just very recently, with many innocent civilians dying gruesome deaths and a lot of corruption in the political system as well. However, it's also true that, like Rohan and Shivani said, the drug problem had been growing for many years (and during the tenures of past Mexican presidents) and Calderon could only do so much in his one term. However, it's also interesting and concerning that a Mexican corruption researcher (and fellow at Harvard)is publicly denouncing him as unethical...I'm fairly sure she wouldn't do this without some serious background knowledge and concrete proof.
About the name thing, I think most Americans are apathetic at best about Mexico's official name. If they really want a new name, then by all means go for it!
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