A ship loaded with Mexican silver was poised to change the course of Spanish and U.S. history, until it mysteriously vanished at sea.
Stories by Carlisle Johnson
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Mexico’s Ukraine inaction consistent with foreign policy but must change
Non-alignment no longer cuts it. It’s time the world’s largest Spanish-speaking nation assumed a leadership role.
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A solution to the Migrant Issue: offer them a free ride home
Line up some buses because refugee camps are filled with unhappy campers who would be happy to return home.
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New efforts to solve Central American refugee problem will not succeed
Corruption and bilateral disputes will stand in the way of Vice President Kamala Harris when she pays a visit next week.
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What will Kansas City Southern’s merger mean for railroads in Mexico?
AMLO may love trains, but how will his Mexico-first worldview mesh with an even bigger foreign entity running many of the nation’s routes?
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These are good times for Mexico’s venerable pawnbrokers
The pandemic, a struggling economy and scores of impoverished refugees have added up to ample good cheer for pawn shops.
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Mexico’s increasingly complicated immigration policy (dilemma)
The president nimbly dealt with the issue of Mexican workers in the US last week but punted on the thornier issue on its southern border.
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Daily life in safe, idyllic Comitán is a reminder of the ‘old normal’
Carlisle Johnson heads for this hidden Chiapas gem when in need of a break somewhere that reminds him of Mexico as it was before Covid-19.
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These 3 plants could represent an energy revolution for Mexico
A common weed, castor beans and sugar could replace imports of diesel, lubricating oil and gasoline.
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AMLO’s railway dreams: a shrewd calculation or another train wreck?
Like millions all over the globe, Mexicans have a love affair with trains and President López Obrador is no exception.
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The world’s largest economy is not going to be China
By 2050, and maybe by 2021, it will be Mexico joining Canada and the US as the biggest and more importantly the best by almost any measure.
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Soaring peso inconvenient to some but a quadruple whammy for economy
A four-peso difference in the exchange rate puts billions of kilos’ worth of fewer tortillas on the tables of Mexico’s hungriest.
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Forget Halloween, let’s hear it for the Druids instead
If “every cloud has a silver lining” that of the Covid-19 cloud is that it has driven a stake into the heart of trick or treating.
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Hey, gordo, watch those M&Ms: law cracks down (again) on unhealthy snacks
The packaging in which M&Ms and Mamuts are sold will soon be illegal because both feloniously use caricatures and mouth-watering words.
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Made in China is a more common label than Made in Mexico. Why?
Mexican entrepreneurs should be lining up to replace Chinese exports to the vast US market.
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The best way to swat a fly: some useful advice for the rainy season
Flies’ eyes, like yours and mine, are not in the backs of their heads so they have a “six,” a blind spot like a fighter pilot’s.
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Earthquake survivor lived through two Big Ones
The only aspect of my life that is likely to garner a mention in Ripley’s Believe it or Not is my relationship with earthquakes.
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Mexico’s railroads have a colorful history
It’s too early to buy a ticket or get off the tracks, but that proverbial light at the end of the tunnel may indeed be an oncoming train.
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4 centuries after the plague, some remarkable similarities
In countless countries people are chafing at the misery, inconveniences and prohibitions of coping with a pandemic. But they’re nothing new.
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Hacienda Hedge: platinum lining to Mexico’s cloud
Each year Mexico rolls the dice and makes a huge options bet on the future direction of oil prices. It’s called the “Hacienda Hedge” or the “Pemex Hedge.”
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The Gaucho Effect is about to lasso Mexico—with a double whammy
The last sovereign debt crisis appeared in 1994, 26 years ago, and the one before that in 1980, 40 years ago. The next one will occur any time now.
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Why are my tweezers Italian? Why not Mexican?
Perhaps, like Christmas ornaments, they could be made in Michoacán, one of Mexico’s most violence-plagued and dangerous states.
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European-made grand piano a surprise discovery in the Sierra Madre
The spectacularly beautiful and extraordinarily valuable piano poses regally but totally incognito in a hotel lobby.
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Racism probable cause for Africans getting bureaucratic treatment
A language issue at least muddies the waters, given the apparent lack of English, Portuguese and French-speaking immigration officials.
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Cannonball runs No. 2: Mother’s Day at Hussong’s, $1 beers, and why Camrys
More observations on highway travel through Mexico in the second of a series recollecting cannonball runs in Toyotas from the US border to Guatemala.
