Oaxaca Summer Institute

For the thirteenth year, the Oaxaca Summer Institute will provide graduate
students the opportunity to participate in a month-long analysis of modern
Mexican history and culture. The seminar is intended primarily for graduate
students in history and anthropology, but is open to those in other
disciplines, including especially public health and geography. We plan to
admit two or three outstanding undergraduate students.

Professor Guillermo Palacios of El Colegio de M=E9xico will open the
seminar with an introductory lecture on national patrimony and culture and
the challenges facing scholars when taking up these themes.


Seminar XIII will focus on five major themes, each directed by scholars fro=
m Mexico, the United States or Canada.=20

History of public health and medicine
Gabriela Soto Laveaga
(UC-Santa Barbara)

Gender, Sexuality and Power
Ann Blum
(University of Massachusetts-Boston)=20
William French=20
(University of British Columbia)

Environment in history and culture
Christopher Boyer
(University of Illinois-Chicago

A People's History of Mexico, the popular, visual, and musical heritage of
Mexico
William Beezley
(University of Arizona)

Monica Rankin
(University of Texas at Dallas)
With support of Ricardo P=E9rez Montfort (CIESA-Tlalpan)

A concluding workshop will examine violence, migration, and drugs with
Mexican and US participants from Ford Mexico Foundation project.

Other featured seminars will be offered by Deborah Dorotinsky, Instituto
de Investigaciones Est=E9ticas, UNAM; Raquel Para=EDso, Veracruz;
Guillermo
Palacios (El Colegio de M=E9xico), Deborah Poole (Johns Hopkins), Jurgen
Buchenau (UNC-Charlotte), Ana Paulo de Teresa (UAM-Iztapalapa), Mary Kay
Vaughan (University of Maryland), Francie Chassen-L=F3pez (University of
Kentucky), Daniela Traffano (CIESAS-Oaxaca), Ethelia Ruiz (INAH) and
others. The seminar sessions are conducted in both Spanish and English.
Several other scholars have been invited and will be announced shortly.


The 2011 seminar will also include weekly viewings and discussions of
feature films and documentaries, with a particular focus on the role of
film in the study of history and culture.


The cost of the seminar is $2200 US, with a $25 application fee. The fee
includes the cost of the seminar, housing with a family in Oaxaca,
breakfasts (other meals can be arrangement at minimal cost), and weekly
field trips. Participants may enroll in language classes for an additional
cost. Alternative housing in apartments or hotels can be arranged. Limited
financial aid is available on a competitive basis. Graduate credit can be
arranged. The deadline for applications is April 15, 2011.

Participants will be notified within one week after the application
deadline. Final payment and additional paperwork are due May 15 and
students will be provided with a syllabus and additional materials at that
time.

Seminar directors:
William H. Beezley (beezley@u.arizona.edu)
Gabriela Soto-Laveaga (gsotolaveaga@history.ucsb.edu

)
William E. French (wfrench@interchange.ubc.ca)
Monica Rankin (mrankin@utdallas.edu)

For additional updated information, applications, and last year's syllabus =
see the Oaxaca Summer Institute website www.oaxacainstitute.com or contact =
one of the seminar directors.

Latino Youth Majority in California

9 March 2011 Last updated at 05:53 ET

US Census: Hispanic children now majority in California

The latest figures are set to have a political impact

Continue reading the main story

Related Stories

• US population sees slowing rise
• Why US population growth outstrips EU
• A glance at the future: Second generation Hispanics

More than half of California's children are now of Hispanic origin, according to the US Census Bureau.

The latest data from the 2010 census shows that Latinos and Asians accounted for most of the population growth in California over the past decade.
The number of Hispanics rose 28% to 14 million, reaching near parity with non-Hispanic whites, while Asians grew 31%.
California remains the biggest state, growing to 37.3 million, but not enough for additional seats in Congress.
The detailed figures from the 2010 US Census shows that Hispanics now account for 38% of California's population, almost equal with the 40% of non-Hispanic whites.
These number 15 million, a drop of 5% on the previous census.
The Asian population now stands at 4.8 million, while the non-Hispanic black population is down 1% at 2.2 million.
Redrawing districts The state's Hispanic population under 18 years of age increased 17%, while the number of non-Hispanic white children fell 21% over the past decade.
"Hispanics are the future of California," William Frey from the Brookings Institution told the Washington Post.
"Any local or state initiatives that have to do with education need to reach out to this population."
California grew by some 10% over the past decade, on par with the national average.

Asians were the fastest-growing group in California

But it was not enough for the state to pick up more seats in the House of Representatives.
This contrasts with the next biggest state, Texas, whose population grew nearly 19% to 25 million and has gained an extra four congressional seats.
The figures released on Tuesday also show a shift in population within California.
Inland areas registered more growth rather than the traditional centres such as Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The census figures are also used to redraw legislative and congressional districts within states.
The 2010 Census figures will have more impact than before because for the first time an independent body, the Citizens Redistricting Commission, will be responsible for setting the boundaries for districts represented in California's Senate and Assembly.
Previously, districts were redrawn by politicians.

Mexico Police Chief Marisol Valles Seeks Asylum in US

9 March 2011 Last updated at 02:35 ET

Mexico police chief Marisol Valles seeks US asylum

Marisol Valles had been hailed as Mexico's bravest woman

Continue reading the main story

MEXICO'S DRUGS WAR

• Agent's murder: Impact on US-Mexico ties
• Analysing the murder figures
• Q&A: Drug violence
• Battling the cartels

Mexico's youngest police chief, Marisol Valles Garcia, has fled to the US after apparently receiving death threats, US immigration officials have confirmed.

She attracted worldwide attention last year when she became police chief of a border town plagued by drug violence after no-one else dared take the job.
She is now seeking asylum in the US after fleeing across the border into Texas.
Ms Valles was sacked from her post on Monday for being absent without leave.
The criminology student was hailed as Mexico's bravest woman in October when she became head of public security in the border town of Praxedis G Guerrero at the age of 20.
The town is in the Juarez Valley in Chihuahua state, a battleground for drugs cartels fighting over lucrative smuggling routes into the US.
Local police and officials in the region have been frequent targets for attack despite a large military presence.

At the time of her appointment, she told the BBC she was accepting the role despite the risks involved because she felt Mexican citizens had a responsibility to try to improve security.
Praxedis is close to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico's most violent city, where more than 3,000 people were killed in drug-related violence in 2010 alone.
The US Customs and Immigration Enforcement agency (ICE) confirmed that Ms Valles was in the country.
"She will have the opportunity to present the facts of her case before an impartial immigration judge," an ICE official told Reuters.

Concluding Remarks

Dear all,

It has been a pleasure to share thoughts and reflections with you in the blogosphere. This blog will stay up for as long as we prefer, and you are free to continue posting on it and/or referring to it. I hope that this course has functioned for you in several ways: 1) as a mechanism for raising our collective awareness regarding some of the most pressing political, economic, social, and cultural phenomena currently transpiring on the US-Mexico border; 2) as a survey of fascinating, controversial, innovative, creative, and virtuosic artworks across several genres that have addressed themes of the "borderlands;" 3) and, finally, as a place where we can converse and engage in dialogue about these controversial and traumatic issues without collapsing into polemicism and partisanship. I think that you have been excellent leaders and participants in all of these respects, and I thank you for this cross-border journey. I hope that your final projects move beyond the classroom and that you can also find a way to return to some of these art pieces and border themes in your future work. Have a great spring break!

Best,
KZ

Mexico Shootout Leaves 18 Dead in Tamaulipas

8 March 2011 Last updated at 02:51 ET

Mexico shootout leaves 18 dead in Tamaulipas state

Continue reading the main story

MEXICO'S DRUGS WAR

• Agent's murder: Impact on US-Mexico ties
• Analysing the murder figures
• Q&A: Drug violence
• Battling the cartels

Gunbattles between rival gangs in a north-eastern Mexican town have left 18 people dead, police say.

The Tamaulipas state government said shooting erupted in the town of Abasolo but gave few details.
Gunmen in trucks and other vehicles had exchanged fire around the town, reports said.
Tamaulipas has been at the centre of a turf war between the Gulf and Los Zetas cartels, which are battling to control lucrative drug smuggling routes.
Mexican media say Abasolo has lacked a state police command post for several months.
Reports said Tamaulipas residents exchanged Twitter messages about Monday's shootings hours before the bloodshed was confirmed by the state government. Some tweets warned people to stay indoors.
The shooting, which began at about 0650 local time on Monday, lasted several hours.
In a brief statement, the state government said federal troops and police had been sent to restore order.
Abasolo is an agricultural community about 100km (60 miles) from the state capital, Ciudad Victoria, and has a population of about 14,000.
Last month, shootings in the nearby town of Padilla also left 18 people dead.
More than 34,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence in Mexico since President Felipe Calderon launched an offensive against the drug gangs in late 2006.

How to cross the border: Some suggestions for Illegal immigrants

Quebradita and the pasito duranguense are more than just a passing fad; their practitioners saw it as an ethnic celebration against the oppressive and unwelcoming backdrop of anti-immigration sentiments and growing xenophobia. This is perhaps one of the most overt examples of art as a rallying cry that we've studied in this class. Hutchinson notes that the dance clubs that sponsored the quebradita provided a forum for embodying a confrontational aesthetic and a space for creating cross-cultural bridges; it is more a political gathering than mere leisure activity. How might these "bridges" affect the demographic makeup of other free assembly political meetings? Will the quebradita and other ethnic celebrations become a political weapon commonly used for campaign rallies, for example?

The paradigm of identity in border music and dance

The overarching theme of border-oriented music and dance appears to be the owning of identity, regardless of the controversy that certain identities may carry. Particularly with narcocorrido music, there seems to be an ideological discrepancy between celebrating and romanticizing the lives and adventures of narcotraffickers and warning and deterring the music listener from the dangerous life style. While the music certainly offers explicit accounts of the dangers of the narcotraficante lifestyle, the upbeat, danceable nature of the music and the element of boasting in the lyrics suggest a desire to claim pride of one’s community and all of its members, even if said community members are performing dangerous, illegal, and life-threatening activities. With border dance, including Nor-Tec and Quebradita forms, despite criticism of its authenticity and stylistic choices, the members of the border dance community preach the importance of emphasizing and demonstrating a strong sense of identity through their performance. Whether or not the music and dance of the border culture benefits or hurts the cause towards mending the issues surrounding border tension and immigration, they create and strong sense of community and maintain a sense of pride in identity.

Danced politics and Nor-tec Rifa!

Dance is a medium through which we had not yet really border culture and I find it to stand on its own from other art forms. There is truly a universality that is unique to dance and for this reason, it seems a more inclusive genre than music, theatre, performance art or film- all of which are grounded in a language and a specific voice. Dance is easily accessible to anyone. Perhaps most notably, many of these dance forms are improvisational which distinguishes them significantly from the other mediums we've looked at.  Nor-Tec must be a deep authentic expression of the true self as it is often unrehearsed and unplanned. I do wonder, in the room, how open these dance cultures are to strangers? If one does not know the "rules" of the form, how able are they to engage?

Gender and musical appropriation

The game of body politics that women play in regards to the nor-tec is the reaffirmation of one's power over her body, a site that has been an commodity and taken advantage of by the media and others. In the case of Diana in Los Angeles, dancing nor-tec empowers her, giving her the power to express her sexuality without the addition of a male body and becoming a sexual object. In this regard, why do you think certain nor-tec dancing styles allows women to reclaim their bodies?

Nor-tec while becoming part of the Mexican American musical canon, is also an evolution of the ideas of Chicanismo. It is a distinct in that it draws upon Mexican music and American music, making a genre that appeals to those who speak both Spanish and English in ways that other musical forms have not. Personally, I would prefer to listen to the sounds of Nor-tec collective than the sounds of Ricky Martin. Perhaps it is because one is much better and musically imaginative that they other. Or perhaps it is because one is just an appropriation of one musical form and lyrics transformed into English with the other is a true mixture. This appropriation can be considered inauthentic, but that is a relative term. Looking to Ricky Martin and others as a point of interest, why did the music of certain Latin Americans make it into the mainstream mainstream ,while others were left on the periphery?

Week 10

While reading "Danced politics and quebradita aesthetics," the quote that stood out most to me whas when Hutchinson said, "When I first began to study the quebradita, I was struck by how many people were moved to express disapproval of my topic. A Mexican police officer who stopped me as I drove across the border wanted to know why I didn't study something 'nice' instead, like ballet folklorico." It made me think about the difference between "high" and "low" culture and their respective values. I find it interesting that though "low culture" has a reputation for being lawless, disorganized, and embarassing, it is often, on the flipside, empowering. For example, when I went to Lah Tere's talk as my cultural event, she talked about how hip-hop music essentially saved her life as a teenager growing up in the barrio. The same goes for the quebradita, as Hutchinson discusses its effectiveness in keeping teenagers out of gangs. I see that as central to the reason why things seen as low culture are worth studying. Though we may want to ignore such art forms and focus on the polished, shiny aspects of a culture, young people growing up in difficult circumstances may have trouble accessing or relating to what we consider respectable (ballet, the fine arts, and orchestra come to mind when I think of this idea). If they cannot have things like hip-hop, rap, and the quebradita, they have even fewer forms of self-expression to turn to, making falling into drug and gang culture far easier. Therefore, I think it can be interesting and meaningful to analyze the history behind low culture, why it is viewed as such, and how it can possibly make positive contributions to society. What do others think about the quebradita article and the upsides and downsides to high and low culture and the distinctions between them?

Week 9 Questions

1. I love the idea of the "quebradita" that uses music and dance to physically express cultural identity, class tensions and nationalism for Mexican-Americans. How much more beneficial is it to use aesthetics like dance and music which have a universal quality in their expression that performance, possibly limited by language barriers, may not provide? Is this art form too ambiguous in trying to address Americanization AND cultural identity? Does this come across without having read the articles that we were assigned? What is the significance of dancing solo versus as a couple, especially in the feminist context of border culture which we learned back with Nao Bustamante?

2. As we reach the end of the quarter, I would like to look at the art forms as a whole. Between music, visual art, and performance, what are each form's individual advantages and disadvantages? What different approaches does each take in examining and addressing border culture? What are the different borders which have been crossed throughout the quarter as we looked at the border culture and what are the benefits of being more knowledgeable as we are now in helping to ease the conflict between Mexicans and Americans?

Week 9 question

On page 172 of Nor-Tec Rifa, Madrid explains that Nor-Tec is a fantasy. This connected with me. Images of losing oneself in the music on a dance floor popped into my head, and all of his claims were instantly true. He writes: "Nor-Tec is a fantasy that ameliorates ethnic, racial, and gender roles and class conditions that contradict these desires while at the same time contesting them, providing a site for their performative reconfiguration." This incredibly powerful statement makes me wonder, do we have something this powerful and equalizing in American music? A style of music that draws everyone together, no matter what gender, race, or class, while at the same time individualizing them as they all dance in their own personal style?

The passion and conviction with which Madrid speaks of the Nor-Tec dancing brings to mind all of the different languages Anzaldua spoke of in her book, except in a more positive light. A person's Nor-Tec dance is an individual preference, much like language, only without the stigma. Everyone is free to dance as they please, free of judgment. Are we capable of expressing more through dance than we think? How powerful is the language of dance? Madrid points out that Nor-Tec dance is "a canvas for the projection and reconfiguration [...] of social representation and self identification." To me, it sounds like he is speaking of a language so much that it is uncanny. If language was treated with the same freedom and acceptance as dance, would border relationships change?

Week 10 Questions

1. One aspect of Madrid's argument (and also quintessential to Kun's) is the concept of music-making as identity formation. I completely agree with what they say regarding this, the kind of music one listens to is oftentimes at the center of who that individual is. However, and this is what I wrote about in my paper, I'm concerned that at face value, if this concept of identity formation were taken too far, it would further entrench the "us versus them" concept that continually cycles through racism and xenophobia. Where is the line between music-making for the joy of declaring personal identity, and music-making declaring and entrenching an "us versus them" mentality?

2. As I think about dance that has been especially politically charged or just controversial, I think of Elvis shaking his hips and the polarizing nature that it had in American society in the 50's. In this new era of globalization and desensitization, is it possible for dance to have that kind of impact still? More specifically, do quebradita, Nor-Tec dance, or pasito dance styles accomplish what their artists set out to do?

Cultural Outing- Latino/a Studies Professor's Work on Trans-National Performances of Indigeneity

Micaela Diaz-Sanchez PhD Mellon Post doctorate Fellow in Latino/a Studies presents “Body as Codex-ized Word Chicana+Mexicana Transnational Performances of Indigeneity”:
For my cultural outing I attended a lecture/reading by Professor Micaela Diaz-Sanchez held by Northwestern’s Latino/Latina Studies Program. Professor Diaz-Sanchez addressed the topic of the representation of indigeneity by two different Chicana/Mexicana performance artists and how indigeneity is presented in both the artistic and political realms of modern Mexican society. Her paper focused on two distinct performances by two artists- Jesusa Rodriguez and Celia Herrera-Rodriguez. Her analysis of the two works delved into the issues of class, gender, race, and sexuality that arise within the two pieces, focusing specifically on the codification of class in the disclusion of Mexico’s indigenous peoples in modern-day Mexico. Jesusa and Celia take very differing approaches to represent the struggles of indigenous peoples in Mexico. Jesusa’s performance piece, entitled Coatlicue addresses the broader sense of indigeneity and it’s place within Mexico’s national identity. Her piece involved a giant puppet of an indigenous “mother goddess” who chides her children of Mexico for forgetting their indigenous roots and the modern political schema that is working to keep Mexican indigeneity as solely a memory. Celia’s piece is a more intimate portrayal of the influence of the indigenous as she tells her own story and the story of her family. She shows how everyday activities like ironing or opening a blanket are rooted in the collective indigenous past. Her focus is a more personal historical recover of the indigenous. With both artists, even with their differing cultural politics and aesthetic techniques, work towards addressing the issues present in modern Mexico in regards to indigenous rights and the collective embracing of the indigenous past (specifically by Chicano/as). Professor Diaz-Sanchez’s work was completely applicable to our class discussions of how performance can be used as a political tool. Her talk also briefly mentioned Cherrie Moraga’s The Hungry Woman. For our purposes, within this class, the fight of the indigenous is similar to that of the borderland people who are searching for an identity as a group who is claimed by neither side. Both artists use their differing artistic merit to fight for the rights of these groups, focusing on the class struggles that emerge as a member of an ostracized or forgotten group. In a similar vien, the borderlands are an unclaimed space that people attempt to push to the back of our collective historical memories, as though not acknowledging the truth will make a change. As these artists prove, it is only through drawing awareness to these issues that we will ever move forward.

"Nor-tec Rifa!" questions

On page 179 of Alejandro Madrid's "Nor-tec Rifa!" it is mentioned that Latin American discourses, "in an attempt to create a unified Latin American other against which to identify a homogenized white U.S. identity, have themselves homogenized Latin American cultures and the diversity of Latin American experiences in the United States." I wonder whether building an "us vs. them" mentality necessarily creates a homogenized "us" and "them"? Is there a way that this dichotomy is maintained with a more heterogeneous view of one side by the other? Or does understanding the other side's complexity legitimize it to the point that the "us vs. them" phenomenon is partially broken down?

The other question I had, while reading the same piece, is in relation to Madrid's characterization of women in "open" versus "closed" dancing. Whenever he mentions women dancing by themselves ("openly"), with no men attached, he says it's a reflection of their desires for modernity and independence and that it removes them from the institutionalized desire for and use of the body that is displayed when women dance with the men ("closed"). My question is...can't this "closed" dancing be a reflection of "experiential" rather than "institutionalized" desire, as well? Why can't a woman desire, in addition to independence, a sense of companionship and dependence on her male counterpart?

Week 9 - March 7

How does the American media effect the rise and fall of Mexican-American social interactions. If it can so shape the music and dancing culture, what are the other effects that it has?

Can cultures modernize without breaking from the traditional? The dance scene says no, that to modernize a new type of music and dancing is needed, but is this so? Could more equal dance styles modernize the older more traditional music?

Politics of Terror, Armed Men, and the Abandonment of Ciudad Juarez

For my cultural outing, I attended Héctor Domínguez Ruvalcaba's talk on Politics of Terror, Armed Men and the Abandonment of Ciudad Juarez at the Buffet Center. In addition to presenting some photos and video, Ruvalcaba presented the research of Daniel Roldán, a student at la Universidad de Ciudad Juarez on the core issues currently plaguing Ciudad Juarez and its people.

Ruvalcaba opened the talk with a series of pictures. "I'm not going to make any comments," he said "I just want to give you a visual image of what Ciudad Juarez is like today." Although we might have expected the images to feature extreme violence, terror and criminality, the photos displayed a completely opposite scene: complete vacancy. A series of data presented after the slideshow revealed that almost 300,000 people fled the city between 2007 and 2010 due to violence, leaving almost 20% of homes in Ciudad Juarez abandoned.

December 2006 marks the beginning of Mexican President Calderon's war on drugs, and simultaneously, a horrific rash of homicides, kidnappings and disappearances. Women are particularly vulnerable, and are often mass-raped and injured as a part of mafia celebrations. "Every time a shipment of drugs crosses the border, the mafia organizes an orgy," Ruvalcaba described, "They kidnap a couple of young women to rape. We know the police are involved because there have been incidents in which we could see marks from the handcuffs."

Criminal involvement of the police and military in Ciudad Juarez was a major theme of Ruvalcaba's talk. Not only are the police directly and indiscreetly involved in criminal operations such as assassinations, rapes, and extortion in Ciudad Juarez, but because the police have aligned with the Juarez Cartel and the military with the Sinaloa Cartel, the two official bodies of armed men have essentially declared war on each other, and left Mexican citizens completely without protection. "You would think that the people would be scared of the criminals," Ruvalcaba stated, "but they're more afraid of the police. To them, the police are the real criminals." Indeed, he continued to note that the police are the largest employer of sicarios in Ciudad Juarez.

But the saddest part of the whole talk was Ruvalcaba's description of the utter desperation and despair in the city. He described an event that had been chronicled in Ciudad Juarez's Diario last year in which a boy was shot while sitting in the passenger seat of his father's car. "He was killed because he was laughing," Ruvalcaba explained, "the guy killed him just because he was happy."

Pictorial Diagram of the Mexican Drug Cartels

NYTimes: Mexico's Calderón Visits White House Amid Rising Tension

March 3, 2011

Mexican Leader Visits Obama Amid Tension

By GINGER THOMPSON

WASHINGTON — President Obama and his Mexican counterpart will meet Thursday in an effort to repair damaged relations and tamp down a diplomatic blame game over the violent drug wars raging south of the border.
President Felipe Calderón of Mexico is to spend the morning at the White House, and in a joint news conference the two leaders may signal whether they were able to overcome the chill that has taken hold in their once warm relations and take any concrete steps toward renewing their common fight against drug trafficking organizations.
The talks come more than two weeks after an American law enforcement agent was gunned down by suspected drug traffickers on a busy Mexican highway. The attack reinforced a sense among Mexicans that their government was losing the war against drugs. And it reminded Americans that this was their fight, too.
But there has been as much tension as cohesion across the border, with the United States raising questions about whether Mexico was too weak and corrupt to stand against organized crime, and Mexico accusing the United States of failing to accept responsibility — in deeds, as much as words — for its share of the problem.
“Mexico wants the United States to act with more urgency,” said Rafael Fernández de Castro, who last week left his post as an adviser to Mr. Calderón to return to academia. “And Washington wants Mexico to show more results.”
Until recently, the two governments publicly appeared to be the strongest of allies. Mr. Calderón was the first head of state that Mr. Obama received after he was elected. The two leaders have met at least five times, including two trips Mr. Obama took to Mexico in 2009 and Mr. Calderón’s state visit to Washington last May. A couple months before that, in an unprecedented display of American support for its southern neighbor, several of Mr. Obama’s highest-ranking cabinet members met in Mexico City with their Mexican counterparts to work on strategies for cooperating in the fight against drug trafficking organizations.
Those expressions of goodwill, and increased cooperation among agencies, however, didn’t add up to much on the ground. More than 34,000 Mexicans have been killed in drug-related violence in the four years since Mr. Calderón took office and dispatched his military to take down the traffickers.
Mr. Obama and Mr. Calderón have seemed undaunted, saying the violence was to be expected and was a sign that the well-armed and well-financed traffickers were in disarray as a result of the government offensive.
“This is a generational battle. It’s going to take time,” said Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan, the Mexican envoy to Washington. “Whoever thought this was going to be easy is smoking too much of the stuff we’re seizing.”
Then, at the end of last year, the diplomatic harmony was shattered when secret State Department cables released by WikiLeaks presented a picture of such intense rivalry among Mexico’s civilian law enforcement agencies and its military that little gets done. Mr. Calderón shot back last week, telling a Mexican newspaper that the cables showed the “ignorance” of American diplomats, and accusing United States law enforcement agencies of tripping over one another.
Add to that, both Mexico and the United States will have presidential elections next year. Mr. Obama is counting on the Latino vote — which is predominantly Mexican. And even though Mr. Calderón cannot run for another term, the way he handles relations with the United States will almost certainly affect his party’s chances.
Andrew Selee, director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, said with Mexico and the United States deeply dependent on each other for things like trade, immigration and security, the diplomatic tensions threatened to overshadow the need to work together day to day.
Mr. Selee said not to expect any bold new initiatives to be announced during Mr. Calderón’s visit. Officials in both governments will consider the trip a success if they can put things back to where they were before WikiLeaks.
“The relationship is working well at an operational level,” Mr. Selee said. “But the presidents need to get the political dialogue back on track, because this griping can get in the way of everything else.”
Mr. Obama is expected to reiterate his confidence in Mr. Calderón, and promise to make good on the $1.4 billion the United States committed to Mexico’s counternarcotics efforts under a policy called the Merida Initiative.
Whether that’s going to be good enough for the openly miffed Mr. Calderón remains to be seen. Political observers said they would be listening to Mr. Calderón’s comments and watching his body language for cues.