Bombers, cowboys, reality stars and clowns. Mexican democracy starts here.
Mexicans often refer to their politics as “a joke”. Indeed, the midterm elections on 7 June to appoint nine state governors, 500 congressmen and hundreds of local officials featured a whole list of improbable – if not ludicrous – candidates new to the political scene. Among them, a famous TV clown, a soccer star, a former Big Brother contestant and a rancher with a cowboy hat riding a white horse to victory. But the outcome – and possible impact – of these elections was serious, even historic.
The ballot was expected to be a test for democracy in Mexico. On election night, it was clear a political earthquake had shaken the country. The quake centred around one man, Jaime Rodríguez, who had run as an independent for governor in Nuevo León, a wealthy but violent state on the US border. Nicknamed “El Bronco”, or “Wild Horse”, Rodríguez became popular thanks to his profanity-laced straight talk. To many, he sounded like a more genuine voice in a political landscape marked by corruption and impunity.
Unlike many politicians of the élite in power, the 57-year-old rancher has experienced Mexico’s violence first-hand. While mayor of García, a small town in Nuevo León, he survived two assassination attempts and rescued his two-year-old daughter from kidnappers. Worse still, his 22- year-old son – one of his six children – was abducted and killed in 2009.
If you want to read it all, purchase the entire issue in pdf for just three euro
Bombers, cowboys, reality stars and clowns. Mexican democracy starts here.
Mexicans often refer to their politics as “a joke”. Indeed, the midterm elections on 7 June to appoint nine state governors, 500 congressmen and hundreds of local officials featured a whole list of improbable – if not ludicrous – candidates new to the political scene. Among them, a famous TV clown, a soccer star, a former Big Brother contestant and a rancher with a cowboy hat riding a white horse to victory. But the outcome – and possible impact – of these elections was serious, even historic.
