Salon.com > Sam Quinones

Newsreal: Stop Demonizing Mexico

Mon, 10 Mar 1997 20:00:00 +0000

this week, the annual congressional hand-wringing about Mexican corruption reaches a whole new level, when -- as appears almost certain -- the House of Representatives votes to decertify Mexico as a drug-fighting partner in good standing. If decertification is supported by the Senate and survives a possible Presidential veto, Clinton could still waive mandated economic sanctions in the "national interest." Still, the message from Congress would be clear: America's neighbor to the south and fellow member of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is no better than pariah states like Iran, Afghanistan and Burma.

Mexico, according to Rep. E. Clay Shaw, R-Fla., the measure's sponsor, represents America's "greatest threat," because it "stands idly by while drugs flow into our nation and into the hands of our children." In a Senate debate Thursday, Sen. Ernest Hollings, D-S.C., seemed to be calling for the overthrow of the Mexican government: "The only way that I know of having the correct friends is to provoke a crisis there, because until you get rid of the PRI (the ruling party), until you get democracy, you'll never get rid of the corruption."

Virtual Virgin

Mon, 02 Dec 1996 13:09:00 +0000

MEXICO CITY

the Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexico's patron
saint and its oldest, most indigenous religious symbol,
has slipped via cyberspace from the 16th century to the
21st.

Interlupe, a web site dedicated to the Virgin, was
unveiled publicly at the 21st National Guadalupan Congress
here last week.

"Almost 500 years ago, the Virgin of Guadalupe came from
heaven to help evangelize the people [of Mexico]," said
Monsignor Enrique Salazar, director of the Center of
Guadalupan Studies in Mexico City, which is sponsoring the
site. "Now she returns to the skies to evangelize the
entire world."

According to legend, the Virgin of Guadalupe first appeared to Juan
Diego, an Indian peasant, on Dec. 12, 1531, near the spot where Aztec Indians
had once worshipped Tonantzin, the mother of all gods.

A dark-skinned, Mexican version of the Virgin Mary, Guadalupe's reported appearance
helped convert Mexico's millions of Indians to Catholicism.

Love for sale, Mexico-style

Wed, 17 Jul 1996 11:58:00 +0000

TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, MEXICO --

The men fall silent when they walk through the gates of Zona Galactica. Hundreds of them slink, tense and nervous, through the streets lined with squat pink, beige and yellow buildings. Eyes are averted. Everyone knows what's on everyone else's mind. After all, there's only one reason to come here.

Zona Galactica, just outside Chiapas, Mexico's southernmost state.
is a city-sponsored, city-built, city-monitored and city-protected bordello. Established in 1992, it was this city's response to out-of-control street prostitution and the violence, disease and exploitation that accompanied it. "The people demanded it," says Dr. Gabriel Esquinca, who runs the city's health clinic at Galactica. "People were marching against street prostitution and clandestine bordellos."

On any given day, 160 women and 1,000 men can be found here. Gates open at 9 a.m., though that's a bit early for most clients.
Above the gates is a large sign reading "Zona de Tolerancia," accompanied by an ad for Coca-Cola. Men pay two pesos to enter (used by the city to defray costs) and are given a condom, purchased in bulk through a city contract. They're searched by the city police, checked for inebriation and off they go.