Ruiz - Mexico: why a few are rich and the people poor

Mexico

WHY A FEW ARE RICH AND
THE PEOPLE POOR

RAMN EDUARDO RUIZ

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University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California

University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England

2010 by The Regents of the University of California

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ruiz, Ramn Eduardo.

Mexico : why a few are rich and the people poor / Ramn Eduardo Ruiz.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-520-26235-5 (cloth : alk. paper)

ISBN 978-0-520-26236-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)

1. MexicoEconomic conditions. 2. MexicoEconomic policy. 3. Economic developmentMexico. 4. PovertyMexico. I. Title.
HC135.R777 2010
330.972dc22

Manufactured in the United States of America

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This book is printed on Cascades Enviro 100, a 100% post consumer waste, recycled, de-inked fiber. FSC recycled certified and processed chlorine free. It is acid free, Ecologo certified, and manufactured by BioGas energy.

A la memoria de Natalia, con quien compart
una vida

Juan era un candidato perfecto, tena una promesa para cada gente y nunca lo o repetirse... ni lo vi complir ninguna, por cierto.

Jorge Ibargengoitia, Los relmpagos de agosto

This offbeat disquisition on Mexicos warped march from century to century opens with the sterling views of my father, a doting Mexican patriot who, when I was young, never tired of telling me stories from his countrys past. As his own father had done, he had served in his countrys military, but had abandoned that life shortly before the collapse of the Old Regime. Always in the grip of misplaced dreams and outright delusions, he would say Mexico someday would be un gran pas (a great country). Well, my father died in Mazatln, a port city on the Pacific Ocean, not far from where he first saw the light of day. He departed this earth in 1976 with unsettling echoes of the past in his troubled mind, never seeing his prediction come true, but never doubting that it would, as he swore when I last saw him. Nor do I doubt it, though I have devoted a lifetime to writing about Mexico, alert to any sign of an untrodden path, but until today my hopes have been dashed.

Still, it is possible, if one is so disposed, to argue that all is well in Mexico, particularly if one is pleased with what we are told by tourists enamored of the pyramids of Teotihuacn and the dance of the old men in Uruapan, Michoacn, or seduced by tales of macroeconomic miracles told by mendacious courtiers of the oligarchy blind to the plight of the poor. But tourists are a notoriously poor judge of a countrys social health, and official pedants are a rascally lot. Mexico may be picturesque, but for those of us who know the country, its glaring social maladies weigh upon our opinions. If truth be told, Mexico has been, and still is, a poverty-stricken, hungry nation and, to cite the opinion of some tortured Mexican souls, suffers the pains of a distorted economy, an idea I find sophistic.

Any interpretation of Mexican reality must bring to the table two truths, or else we will simply draw a lopsided picture. Not all is tragedy in Mexico: we must not blind ourselves to the triumphs of its people in the arts and literature and, from time to time, in the realm of social change. How these dramatic achievements came about, in the face of sundry ills, is a story I leave for others to explore. But surely it is multifarious: these triumphs were spurred largely by the Revolution of 1910, which achieved its ends only in fragments but was apotheosized by hypocritical Mexican politicos and an army of adoring historians on both sides of the border. Why did this conflagration ignite an artistic awakening and, after years of the arts lying dormant, open doors to a radical metastasis? And we also must acknowledge that Mexican history is the epic saga of a mestizo people, partly Indian and partly Spanish, trying to forge a nationality and a culture, an effort made all the more difficult by the omnipotent presence of the United States, the neighbor next door.

Despite this parade of triumphs, and they are mighty indeed, the history of Mexico, if the happiness and welfare of the underdogs are our barometer for judgment, is mostly a tragedy. From the Spanish Conquest on, when the cross and the sword of the Europeans bent ancient Anhuac to their will, the poor, usually bronze of skin and racially more Indian than Spanish, have carried the burdens of Mexico, victims of mans inhumanity to man. Mark Twain said, History doesnt repeat itselfat best it sometimes rhymes. Mexicos history certainly rhymes. Again and again, similar patterns of development, or, better put, underdevelopment, repeat themselves. But, then, to recall my fathers steadfast faith in his countrys destiny, does not hope spring eternally? A steady drop of water erodes even the hardest rock.

That is the topic of this book. Of the more than 100 million Mexicans, why do over half live in poverty, some 20 million of them enduring daily hunger, barely able to keep body and soul together? Whatever pundits might argue, whatever macroeconomic mumbo jumbo might say, Mexico is a peripheral country, part of the ubiquitous Third World, now more than ever at the beck and call of the mighty Uncle Sam and today failing to compete with China for a share of the American market, once Mexicos own hunting preserve.

The one duty we owe to history, declared Oscar Wilde, is to rewrite it. That is what I have done, but not with a foolish academic pretense of disinterestedness. Nor can I claim expertise on any but small aspects of the huge subject of this study, and thus I am indebted to a multitude of scholars and writers, whose books and articles I list in the bibliography. They did the spadework for me. Their interpretations and theories opened my eyes to the nature and scope of underdevelopment. Some say that the subject is best left to economists, but when economists talk, they are really talking about money or, more precisely, about whatever it is that money is measuring. But Mexican underdevelopment is a supremely complex matter, its causes extending beyond simply money, or historical chance, or its fate of lying at the doorstep of a powerful, imperialistic neighbor (a favorite Mexican excuse), or the result of class, social, and racial bigotry, as I will endeavor to explain.

For reading my manuscript, and making helpful suggestions, I am indebted to Stanley Stein, John Hart, Peter Smith, and William Taylor. I also thank Lorenzo Meyer, equally troubled by his countrys tortuous path, who looked at what I wrote with the critical eye of a Mexican scholar. I thank too Mexicans in all walks of life, including storekeepers, teachers, artists, and others who, over the years, have spoken openly about their countrys legacy. I am equally indebted to the Rockefeller Foundation, which gave me the opportunity to spend six weeks at its Bellagio Center, where, with the encouragement of colleagues from around the world, this study took root.

Rancho Santa Fe, California