All About Mentoring Spring 2011 - SUNY Empire State College

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total absence of any smell except antiseptic.
Walmart is there (now said to be the largest
private employer in Mexico), but its local
competitors are as big – and as offensive.
These mega-stores primarily serve people
who drive cars, and people who can afford
the luxury of processed food.
A similar pattern can be seen in the
restaurant business. Burger King,
McDonalds and KFC’s are pervasive in the
of heavily processed white bread, much
preferred by members of the elite, who tend
to distain tortillas as way too … Mexican.
Politics: The Demise of the PRI
In the 1970s, the PRI (Partido
Revolucionario Institucional) had been
in power for as long as anyone could
remember, and its hold on power seemed
firm. Its façade had been shaken in 1968
when its soldiers opened fire on massed
demonstrators in the Plaza of the Three
Cultures: Tlatelolco. And during the ’70s, a
form of low intensity warfare was on-going
involving small revolutionary bands. But the
power of the PRI seemed beyond question,
as it accommodated dissidents within the
elite and did not hesitate to crush agitators
within the lower classes. It waved the
patriotic banner continuously by asserting
its independence from its North American
neighbor, and giving vocal support to
regional trouble makers like Fidel Castro.
At the same time, it never confused rhetoric
with reality when it came to private property
rights and keeping labor costs low.
Food cart: The zocalo, Cuernavaca, Morelos, June, 2010
big cities, but so are the street vendors and
local restaurants. One noticeable change
involves neighborhood bakeries and tortilla
shops. Abundant in the ’70s, they seemed
much harder to find this year. But it turns
out that their products remain readily
available, through the tiny neighborhood
groceries or “tiendas” that grace just about
every residential block. You’ll find the
fresh tortillas, still warm, delivered each
morning by motorbike, snuggled in a cooler
near the counter. Okay, the quality and
freshness have suffered, but the tortillas
survive. One difference, and an important
one, is that the price of this staple has
jumped, as competition for corn from the
North American Midwest booms. Mexican
consumers join the long list of victims
of ethanol. No worries, you can always
buy “Pan Bimbo,” the Mexican version
In the mid 1970s, there was much talk of
new oil discoveries and the promise of a
boom just over the horizon, and leaders of
the PRI quickly became victims of their own
rhetoric, increasing borrowing and public
spending and relying on high oil prices both
to attract investors and to pay off loans. In
the early 1980s, all of that quickly came
unraveled, as a downturn in the North
American economy resulted in a sharp drop
in oil prices and an equally sharp rise in
interest rates. The vaunted PRI economic
machine went off the rails. What followed,
referred to as the “lost decade,” was a
period of economic contraction, wholesale
privatization and stagnation or worse in job
creation. Through all of this, the wealthy
fared better than the middle classes, who in
Walmart ... could have been anywhere. Yuitepec, Morelos, June 2010
suny empire state college • all about mentoring • issue 39 • spring 2011