I think Willie has gone off the deep end of rhetoric in that article and I plan to challenge him on a few points. To suggest that Mexico is in outright chaos is shear nonsense. I recently drove through Chicago and the big news story was that 26 people had been shot in one weekend. Why are there no stories that the US is descending into chaos? Because isolated acts of extreme violence are not a threat to national order in either country. To portray the situation as some kind of armed insurection is irresponsible.

Willie also suggests that the revenues from the oil and gas sector are declining. That is not true and I will contact him to provide proof of that statement. Exports declined last year, but the revenues realized from those exports INCREASED. Is this sustainable? I doubt it, and over the long term there will be presure on the financial stability of the nation, but to state that it is already happening is false.

Willie states that the gap between rich and poor in Mexico is getting wider and perhaps that is true of the super-rich that comprise a fraction of that society. But overall, the middle class in Mexico is participating in the prosperity, and I would hazzard to guess that is more true now than at any other time in the history of the country. Just visit any one of dozens of cities in the country, as I have, and note the number of new vehicles on the road, new home construction, etc.

Mexico is still a third world country and I am not suggesting it is an economic powerhouse. But it is wrong to portray the situation as critical and on the verge of failure. Overall, people are better off now than they were 10 years ago. Rising inflation is something that almost every country in the world must deal with, especially in food, and that is going to put stress on the situation, but will NOT lead to a revolution, or whatever the hell his endgame argument appears to be.

As for mining, the sector is in excellent health and growing in importance in terms of the overall Mexican economy. After the failed experiment to nationalize the industry in the past, I do not see Mexico repeating that mistake, and thereby choking off one of the few important growth areas in that economy.

cheers!

mike