Here is my answer to your question: "Do I prefer Claudia Sheinbaum or Xochitl Galvez?" (Maybe my Oaxacan friends -- Alma Delia and Rodrigo -- will weigh in...)

 

... well, "in Mexican history."

Alan Archibald <alanarchibaldo@gmail.com>

Dear Ed,

I have a good feeling about ecological "engineer" Claudia Sheinbaum whom I see as progressive and endowed with a good heart, whereas I have a "feeling" that Xochitl is a "closet bourgeois." 

It also helps that Sheinbaum actually got things done as mayor of Mexico City. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Claudia-Sheinbaum

Claudia also inherits a power structure that is already in place, so that -- at least in theory -- she can get things done. (Xochitl, on the other hand, would have to create her own "executive" branch with all the resistance and hassle wresting power away from the existing power structure. Here is Xochitl's Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X%C3%B3chitl_G%C3%A1lvez)

Here's (what may be) "the big story" in Mexico.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/06/01/us-mexico-border-drugs-immigration-00160725

As always with the press, I suppose it's sensationalized.

Although I am scared to travel by car or bus in a 2 to 5 hundred mile wide "border fringe" I know that Mexicans usually "get by" if they're prepared to cross palms con una mordida.

Clearly this sucks, but it may be better if Mexico makes real progress south of "The Chaos," rather than engaging in what could quickly become a mini-Civil-War. (Remember. Mexicans from up north revere "the bad guys" and they have the Corridos to prove it. https://frontera.library.ucla.edu/blog/2017/11/mexican-corrido-ballads-adversity-and-rebellion-part-2-border-bandits-or-folk-heroes )

 "Ya pays your money, and ya take your chances."

Pax et amor

Alan 

PS The month before I returned from Oaxaca, Xochitl painted a political advertisement over a mural on Calzada de la República right where it ends at what used to be called "La Carretera Panamericana" - Ruta #95. My observation es no mas un detalle, pero siempre fue portamiento maluco. To my delight, almost immediately, someone painted over Xochitl's advertisement: "Donde se fue el mural?"

something bad, sick

Maluco or MalucaAll-encompassing Medellin Spanish slang for something bad, sick (not the cool kid), uncomfortable, or of bad quality.

Medellin Spanish Slang: 83 Words To Make You Sound Like ...

Alan: When I lived in Colombia, maluco was my go-to word for "sucky." (By the way, Medellin - in Antioquia - a city and "departamento" that are known for their industriousness, are very disproportionately inhabited by Basque descendants. 

PPS Happy birthday Monika Mann!

*****

Catholic News Agency Reports On Mexico's First Woman President, Claudia Sheinbaum:                   https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257886/mexico-elects-first-woman-president-who-is-she-and-what-does-she-believe