Quotes from Denise Dresser

La historia cotidiana de nuestro país está escrita así: todo lo que parece que es, no es. Todo lo que debería de ser, tampoco será. Lo que realmente está sucediendo es lo impensable, lo improbable, lo imposible.

Como nos recuerda Savater, la democracia no es un régimen para estar quieto. Y la nuestra se encuentra tan descompuesta que urge estar atentos, vigilantes, prestos para intervenir y corregir y echar del puesto a quien te ha desilusionado

Los idiotas mandan porque otros idiotas los eligen. Los idiotas mandan porque logran erigirse en una especie de diosecillos que siempre tienen la razón, dado que los apoya el pueblo y el pueblo nunca se equivoca.

PRONASOL repositions the PRI as a welfare machine.

Pena Nieto is a product of the two television networks that groomed him for power and then propelled him to the presidency.

Vicente Fox beat the PRI by gambling on a simple formula: Marketing + Money = Presidency.

Mexico doesn't know whether it should pay more attention to those who advocate militarizing the border or to those - like President Obama - who have come out against it.

Government after government has prioritized the preservation of corporatist loyalties over the promotion of economic growth and emphasized clientelist distribution over entrepreneurial innovation and creation of level economic playing field.

The problem with Mexico isn't so much the men who govern but the lack of rules to govern by and the absence of institutions to rule with.

The PRI can afford to push democratization; it can afford to be generous because it has a very good chance of winning in clean elections.

The National Action Party, in many ways, emulated the PRI in the way in which it conducted itself in government, supporting corporatist leaders, supporting corrupt oil worker union leaders.

In Latin America, many people live with outstretched hands. Throughout the hemisphere, paternalistic governments accustom people to receiving just enough to survive instead of participating in society.

Trump has said he will dismantle the North American Free Trade Agreement. This would be hugely harmful for Canada and the U.S. and for integration in the region.

The emergence of cross-border coalitions and issues shows the advent of a whole new era in U.S.-Mexican and Mexico-California relations.

When former President Carlos Salinas de Gortari passed the torch to Zedillo, he knew that economic difficulty lay ahead but believed that the Yale-trained economist's impeccable technical credentials would be enough to maintain Mexico's stability.

Governments that don't need to broaden their tax base have few incentives to respond to the needs of their people.

The U.S.-Mexico border has often been described as an open wound. NAFTA was expected to heal it, albeit through a long, slow, and imperfect scarring process, by creating a basic framework for cooperation between the two countries.

Mario Ruiz Massieu's resignation places the ball very firmly in Zedillo's court. A key decision he will have to make is whether he is going to govern with, without, or against his own party.

Democratic Latin America limps sideways because it can't run ahead. There are too many entry barriers to the poor, the innovative, and those without access to credit.

Mexico is trapped by a dense network of rent-seekers and monopolies in sectors that are crucial for economic growth, including telecommunications, energy, transportation, and financial services.

NAFTA was conceived to avoid discrimination against goods. A U.S.-Mexico treaty on immigration should be devised to prevent discrimination against people.

While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reaches out to embrace suffering Syrians, his government seems ready to throw embattled Mexicans under the bus just to appease Mr. Trump.

For Mexicans, corruption is not a deal breaker.

Aguilar Zinser played a crucial role in the struggle for democracy in Mexico. He was on the right side of that battle, however strident, passionate, and difficult he was.