The Annexation of Mexico: From the Aztecs to the Imf, One Reporter’s Journey through History by John Ross

Cogan’s Reviews Cynicism isn’t my favorite literary mode. It wears thin after a while. And John Ross is nothing if not cynical. For the first two chapters I wondered if I was going to make it all the way. However, the saving factor in his book, “The Annexation of Mexico” is that most of the […]

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Opening Mexico: The Making of a Democracy by Julia Preston and Samuel Dillon

Cogan’s Reviews Here is the history of Mexico in the last two or three decades – and what a history it is. It’s the story of how a dictatorship eventually found its way toward becoming a democracy. As stories go, this one has everything – political corruption, student demonstrations leading to a massacre, earthquakes, citizen […]

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The alebrije is a uniquely Oaxacan variety of Mexican folk art. This one depicts a rabbit. © Alan Goodin 2007

Ask an old gringo about tax cuts, wind farms, Alebrijes and egg sandwiches

Mexico is a very interesting country. Many things are happening. Nowhere else in the world are people protesting because taxes are going down. The old gringo gets an assortment of questions and requests. This is No. 1 for now. Challenge: Please explain the complaints about the REDUCTION in the tax on soft drinks. Response: Mexicans […]

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Abraham Lincoln and Mexico: A history of courage, intrigue and unlikely friendships

Available from Amazon Books:   Paperback or Kindle The United States and Mexico struggled through volatile years of suffering and carnage to become unified nations. Michael Hogan’s thoroughly researched and passionately written Abraham Lincoln and Mexico is a thought-provoking read that covers part of that struggle from 1822, when Americans settlers first arrived on Mexican territory, to 1867, when […]

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High hopes, baffling uncertainty: Mexico nears the millennium

The election that brought Miguel de la Madrid’s successor to power was clearly fraudulent. On July 6, 1988, when the first results began to arrive at the interior ministry’s office on Avenida Bucareli, a shockingly high proportion was marked for the main opposition candidate. He was Cuauhtemoc Cárdenas, son of former President Lázaro Cárdenas, the […]

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Elections in Mexico and the US: Comparisons and contrasts

Just as in the US, Mexico holds a presidential election in 2012. Because the presidential term of office is four years in the US and six years in Mexico, the countries’ elections coincide only every twelve years. How is a Mexican presidential election similar to a US election, and how is it different? In both […]

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The second great migration: Economic and policy implications

In recent decades, immigration to the United States has reached historic proportions. Many observers liken this large and sustained wave of immigration to the Great Migration at the beginning of the 20th century.[1] Certainly the promise of America is the same—a land of opportunity and freedom. The number of immigrants today is also similar to […]

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TAGS-Sections + Topics

SECTION TAGS Home, Living, Travel, Cuisine, History, Business, Culture & Arts, Destinations, Indexes, Forums, GENERAL TAGS tags accomodations adjusting anthropology archeological-sites archeology architecture art artists author aztec beaches book book-reviews border-crossings christmas conversions crafts cuisines culture-customs day-of-the-dead doing-business driving-routes easter ecology excerpt exploring-tourism family famous-people fauna fiestas-traditions finance-economics finance-personal flora food-drink geography geology government haciendas […]

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Consumer protection links

PROFECO – FEDERAL CONSUMER PROTECTION AGENCY CONDUSEF – NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR THE PROTECTION AND DEFENSE OF FINANCIAL SERVICES USERS Historically, Mexican consumers have not had as many rights as those in the NAFTA counterpart countries of the United States or Canada. A buyer-beware mentality prevails in Mexico instead of the “customer is always first” mantra […]

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