Felipe Calderon won Mexico’s presidential elections because the electoral tribunal and the institutions in the country recognized that he was a well-prepared candidate (“A Bittersweet Victory,” Sept. 11). He is educated and has a broad world view that should help Mexico. Besides, Andrés Manuel López Obrador made many mistakes. He does not speak English, which is a handicap because our country’s principal trade partner is the United States. He also lost people’s confidence by acting like a crazy person, criticizing institutions and not accepting the tribunal’s decision. His resistance movement will lose supporters–neither the church nor other countries will support him. But no one seems to care about Mexico right now so this instability can create more problems for the country. I just hope López Obrador stops acting up.
Laura Sanchez
Mexico City, Mexico
Why should a vote-by-vote re-counting by a few hundred officials be more credible than the Election Day count? Thousands of specialized observers reported no major anomaly, and this election has been recognized as the most peaceful and ordered in Mexico’s history. More than 40 million Mexicans voted that day. What is really at stake is whether Mexicans are prepared to live by the law promulgated by Congress, a cause for which many Mexicans had devoted their lives in the last two centuries, or whether we still want to resolve differences through extralegal means. If the electoral law needs to be changed, it should be done through Congress. The election results showed progress for the [left-wing] PRD. The mitigation of poverty and the need to create jobs is a concern for all Mexicans. These are the objectives on which we need to focus and work. Mexico is a poor country, and many people believe that the PRD may better represent poor people’s interests. But the last two decades have shown that whenever the PRD adopts violent attitudes, it loses; and when it is conciliatory, it gets good electoral results. Its mistakes made it lose this election. If for the next election it selects candidates and strategies that respond to the Mexican people’s needs (peace to start with), there is a chance that it could win, and that might be better for everyone.
Arturo Vaca
Torreon, Mexico
Regarding Felipe Calderon’s electoral “victory” in Mexico, I found your Sept. 11 article quite balanced, but I would like to point out that if Calderón is a “disobedient son,” it is simply because he betrayed his father’s ideals. Don Luis Calderón Vega, a founding member of PAN, ceased to be active in that party because he felt it no longer represented all Mexicans since it was increasingly focusing only on the interests of the rich. Now a champion of right-wing interests will deepen the existing abyss between rich and poor. PAN’s dirty electoral war, aided by American and Spanish electoral assistants, divided the Mexican nation, which Calderón must strive to unite.
Maria Soledad Cervantes-Ramirez
Mexico City, Mexico
Lopez Obrador is neither an anti-capitalist nor an advocate of socialism as his adversaries claim (“What Else Ends With Castro,” Aug. 21/28). In fact, he made it very clear that the revolution he talks about is a “peaceful and democratic” one. This was confirmed by the pacifist protest marches that took place all over the country and the permanent standoff in Mexico City by thousands of voters against the electoral fraud that declared the PAN candidate the winner despite the hard evidence of fraud presented to the Electoral Court of the Judicial Power of the Federation. As to the pro-Cuba attitude, since PRI times, Mexico has always been respectful of nonintervention policies, which is quite different from being pro-Havana.
Jose Luis Velazco
Mexico City, Mexico
I read Christopher Dickey’s piece about North African immigration into Europe with great interest (“Living Underground,” Sept. 11). In July 2003, I had read about a shipwreck off Lampedusa, a southern Italian island. More than 200 Tunisians died then trying to make it to Europe in a boat, that was filled with desperate people dreaming of a new life like hundreds of others every year. Their desires were no different from those of the millions of Irish and other Europeans who emigrated to America in the past. I did a large painting honoring their courage and humanity and called it “Lampedusa.”
Michelle Rogers
via internet
Thailand prides itself on its kind-hearted tolerance, but unconscionable and shameful discriminatory practices–blatant violations of human rights–are being perpetuated against helpless ethnic-minority children here. The Thai Labor Ministry estimates at least 70,000 offspring of undocumented Burmese immigrants live in Thailand without legal rights or representation, facing the constant threat of mass deportation. Most are uneducated and exploited in jobs nobody else wants: those that pay below minimum wage with substandard provisions of vital basic necessities. Globally, disproportionate numbers of ethnic-minority emigrant workers and their families face discrimination, suppression and desperation. We should aim to enable each child, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity or background, to achieve his full potential. All children must be assured equal opportunity to realize and maximize their unique talents. Only by viewing all humanity as members of our global family can we learn to value and cherish other people’s children as our own, while appreciating our broader social responsibility to help educate and expand individualized learning options for every potential future leader on our fast-changing earth.
Charles Frederickson
Bangkok, Thailand
We are now living with 2 million foreigners in our small-island nation (“The New Japan”). They are a tiny percentage of the population, but their impact is not small in this homogenous society. This is the second opening of Japan to foreigners, after Commodore Perry forced it open in 1853. But now we are able to adjust to the newcomers, a big percentage of whom are international wives in rural areas: Japanese girls don’t like to marry farmers. The mixed children in those families are bridging the ethnicity and cultures of their parents. I’m hopeful that Japan will evolve into a nation that embraces naturalized citizens and foreign residents.
Takahito (Ted) Miyazawa
Odawara, Japan
In an otherwise competent piece, Fareed Zakaria (“Why We Don’t Get No Respect,” July 3/July 10) fails to ask one important question: is the Bush administration’s so-called change of policy toward diplomacy serious, genuine and honest? The president has said repeatedly on a variety of sensitive issues that all options are on the table. Judging from past experience, he will do what he thinks is best, no matter how many wise minds, at home and abroad, hold differing opinions. The only discernible alteration has been in style, not in substance, and even on the former score, considerable reservations must be made. A case in point: picking John Bolton to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations was an egregious error, and one Bush does not deem necessary to rectify. The preferred rationale that it is better to be strong and wrong from time to time than a bit weak and right is a fallacy. Unless and until that lesson is learned, the consequences could be disastrous.
Werner Radtke
Paderborn, Germany
“After the Pharaoh” (July 3/July 10) makes us Egyptian-Americans wonder what lies ahead for Egypt. It seems that the brutal police forces in the Egyptian streets are no longer enough to secure the term of Hosni Mubarak’s dictatorship. His ruling gang is now changing the political landscape of the country by introducing a new series of laws that incriminate whoever raises his voice against the dictator and his family. Legislation has lost its purpose of protecting the rights of the people. Instead, it has become Mubarak’s new tool to ensure the ascension of his son Gamal to power with minimum resistance. “The making of a young dictator” in the Middle East–is this beneficial to us in the long run?
Amy Ekdawi
Fairfax, Virginia
Alongside nobel laureate Elie Wiesel’s goal to sensitize the desensitized world leaders first (“The Moral Dimension,” July 3/July 10), more is required to change the world for the better. The need for local, regional and national good governance is accepted. Now, more than ever, good governance is globally essential. To achieve this, a reformed and effective United Nations is crucial.
John Quinn
Dublin, Ireland
I have been a longtime subscriber to NEWSWEEK because I am interested in political reporting and analysis from around the world. Like most of your readers, I am not interested in “the Diamond Pacifier from It’s My Binky” or “Mia Bossi’s chic new diaper bags” at exorbitant prices (July 3/July 10). Let those companies run ads in your magazine, but don’t sell these kinds of commercially manipulative interests to us as articles. the good life section insults the intelligence of NEWSWEEK readers.
Doris Corea
Neuwied, Germany
