Trusted Traveler Programs Are a No Brainer – The Expert Take

By Christopher Wilson, 5/1/2013

As President Obama heads to Mexico to meet with his counterpart, Enrique Peña Nieto, bilateral economic ties are deeper and more massive than ever. In fact, in 2012 the volume of bilateral trade grew to the point that our countries trade a million dollars in goods and services every minute.¹ With almost 80 percent of all bilateral merchandise trade crossing the land border, making sure the border is both secure and efficient is more important than ever.

Unfortunately, long lineups to cross the border currently cost the economies of the United States and Mexico billions of dollars each year in lost economic growth and eat away at the competitiveness of manufacturers working in the region. To eliminate the border bottleneck, investments in border infrastructure and staffing are important and necessary, but they are not cheap. One tried and true solution, however, is especially cost effective.

Mexico’s telecoms reform bill – The Expert Take

By Duncan Wood, 3/15/2013

In another bold move, the Enrique Peña Nieto government has presented legislation to the Mexican Congress that is aimed at reducing the power and monopolistic control that is currently held by the dominant players in the country’s telecommunications sector. The legislation, which appears to have a strong chance of passing through the legislature, is a further attempt by the government to wrest back control of the economy and Mexican politics from the so-called “poderes fácticos,” or vested interests. It shows the effectiveness both of the government’s approach, and of the negotiating mechanism that it is employing in its legislative agenda, namely the Pacto Por México.

The telecoms reform is far-reaching and revolutionary. First, it aims to create a new independent regulatory body that will have the power to restrain companies that have more than 50 percent of the market, and in turn will offer an opening to new, smaller firms. At its most extreme, the regulator will have the power to break up dominant firms, forcing them to sell assets. But the regulator will also possess the power to set maximum prices for interconnections, currently seen as being a severe obstacle to the emergence of rival firms in the fixed-line and wireless market.

IVA and Oil Reform – The Expert Take

By Duncan Wood, 3/4/2013

Last Saturday’s vote by the PRI party to change its statutes to allow for the application of the value added tax (IVA) to food and medicine, and to allow for increased private participation in the oil sector, significantly improves the prospects for the reform process under Enrique Peña Nieto. This marks an important victory for the reformers within the party, and is a sign that the government now faces minimal internal party divisions that could hold back the reform process. Although much bargaining and negotiation remains with the other parties, the fact that Peña Nieto can now move ahead to talk meaningfully with the other parties in Congress with a united party behind him strengthens his bargaining position.

Elba Esther Gordillo – The Expert Take

By Duncan Wood, 2/27/2012

La jugada del experto-The Expert Take in Spanish

Yesterday’s PGR arrest of Elba Esther Gordillo on charges of embezzlement marks a bold step forward by the Pena Nieto administration to establish its authority and legitimacy in the eyes of the Mexican public, and to send a message to Mexico’s most powerful unions. The arrest comes after the successful passage of an education reform bill through Congress, earning the government plaudits from international observers, who saw it as a much-needed attack on the power of the teachers union, the SNTE, but receiving a skeptical response from many national critics who believed that the government would not follow through with implementation of the new laws. This new development destroys those doubts about the seriousness of the Pena Nieto government to take on the union, and to mobilize the sovereign power of the state against vested interests.

Threading the Needle on Immigration Reform in the United States – The Expert Take

By Karthick Ramakrishnan, 2/11/2013

Is this finally the year that Congress reforms U.S. immigration policy and provides a path to citizenship for the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country? It would seem so, given the various encouraging statements from Republican and Democratic leaders over the past week. The policy calculations seem favorable, too, with years of net-zero migration from Mexico and the prospect of reduced migration pressures in the future. However, what remains highly unpredictable is the political calculus on immigration, with dynamics at the national and local level potentially at odds with each other.

From a policy perspective, conditions today seem favorable for a comprehensive solution to undocumented immigration. Unemployment is a significant problem in several regions of the United States, but well below the highs reached in 2009. Perhaps more importantly for immigration policy, migration from Mexico has plummeted over the last few years. This is due, in part, to a lackluster economic recovery in the United States and much greater immigration enforcement, as measured both by budgetary spending and the record annual number of deportations. Other reasons for net-zero migration include economic improvements and declines in fertility  in Mexico, and increased enforcement actions in Mexico against unauthorized migration from Central America. Thus, proponents of immigration reform today can make a credible case that immigration reform will not lead to new waves of unauthorized migration, as it did after 1986.

The Victims’ Law in Mexico – The Expert Take

By Lauren Villagran, 1/11/2013

This law is more than a year in the making, the product of a joint effort by academics, victims’ advocates, as well as victims themselves aligned with the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity. Its publication this week in the official government gazette marks a major win for the movement led by the poet Javier Sicilia, whose son Juan Francisco was killed in violence in March 2011.

Victims of crime in Mexico and the “indirect” victims who suffer for them face daunting obstacles. In a country where fewer than four percent of crimes are resolved, victims face the “double” victimization of a justice system that doesn’t do its job. México Evalúa, a Mexico City-based research center, estimates the state has the capacity to investigate 4,350 homicide cases annually in a country where there are more than 20,000 homicides per year.

The 2012 Education Reform in Mexico: From Intention to Action: The Expert Take

By Eduardo Andere M., 12/19/2012

For decades education in Mexico has been trapped by suspicious arrangements between the national agency for education and the main teachers union.

It is commendable, that new President Peña Nieto aims to recover, from the Teacher’s Union (SNTE), the education policy decisions that the National Education Act confers, mainly, to the National Department of Education (SEP) and other local education authorities (articles 12 and 13).

President Peña Nieto’s Security Strategy – The Expert Take

By Eric L. Olson, 12/17/2012

Today Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto announced his government’s much anticipated security strategy to a nation exhausted and traumatized by six years of devastating violence and skyrocketing crime.  In his statement he committed to heed the mandate of Mexican citizens in the last election calling for a country at peace and based on “respect and protection of human rights.”

Analysis of the Pacto from The Mexico Institute’s Duncan Wood

Duncan Wood

Duncan Wood, Director of Mexico Institute 12/17/2012

The signing of the Pacto is highly symbolic but we have yet to determine whether or not it will make a difference to the levels of Congressional (and broader political) cooperation between the parties. For me the Pacto symbolizes a well-established Mexican and Priista tradition of making an effort to bring diverse factions under the same political umbrella. Pena Nieto has offered this deal to his counterparts in the PAN and PRD as a way of showing inclusiveness and a willingness to compromise, as well as the much-vaunted commitment to “effective government”.

Pacto Por Mexico: The Expert Take

We are pleased to announce the launch of our new opinion column “The Expert Take” which will feature original analysis and commentary from guest contributors featured exclusively on the Mexico Portal. We invite you to check back frequently for updates to this column.

By Roderic Ai Camp, 12/12/2012

During the era of the pre-democratic PRI in Mexico there existed a long history of national political pacts. Those pacts typically were between the PRI dominated executive branch and the two most influential actors, labor unions and business organizations. In the 1990s, at the highpoint of the democratic transition, the PRI for the first time in its history lost its ability to ensure a two-thirds vote in the legislative branch, preventing it from accomplishing constitutional changes. Consequently, the PRI began negotiating with the opposition; in exchange for support on some legislative initiatives, it agreed to electoral legislation which paved the way for the 2000 electoral victory of PAN.