León Krauze

Nota: Este archivo abarca los artículos publicados por el autor desde el 1 de Julio de 2008. Para fechas anteriores realice una búsqueda entrecomillando su nombre.

An underground passage between Tijuana, Mexico, and south San Diego in March. (AP)

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On May 16, President Trump took to Twitter to chastise Mexico once again. A story on Judicial Watch, one of the president’s sources for conservative commentary and conspiracy theories, had caught his attention. Authorities had discovered a tunnel stretching from Tijuana to a warehouse in San Diego, where agents seized more than $30 million in drugs and apprehended a suspect. “Mexico must take control of this very big problem!” Trump tweeted.

Although cross-border tunnels have long been a source for concern, they’re not a “very big problem.” In fact, most drugs are smuggled into the United States above ground, through legal ports of entry.…  Seguir leyendo »

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Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has become an international symbol of ridicule in the middle of the pandemic. As he continues to flaunt his disregard for prudence — just this weekend he visited and shook hands with the elderly mother of convicted drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán — the number of cases of the novel coronavirus has kept rising in Mexico. The government mulishly delayed the adoption of social distancing and other measures, and now the country is ill-prepared for what comes next, scrambling to persuade citizens to stay indoors.

It wouldn’t take a worst-case scenario to overstretch Mexico’s limited health-care resources.…  Seguir leyendo »

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En México se cuenta este viejo chiste: un hombre conduce en sentido contrario en una autopista llena de autos. Los autos derrapan para esquivarlo, otros giran fuera de control y unos más apenas logran no chocar con él. Es un caos total. El hombre sigue conduciendo, sin inmutarse por la realidad que lo rodea. Enciende la radio y en ella un locutor alarmado dice: “¡Cuidado, hay un loco conduciendo en sentido contrario en la carretera!”. El conductor frunce el ceño, mira a su alrededor y dice en voz alta: “¿Solo uno? ¡Hay miles!»

El presidente de México, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, ha estado conduciendo en el sentido equivocado durante la crisis del coronavirus.…  Seguir leyendo »

Protesters demonstrate in February in Mexico City following the murder of a 7-year-old girl. (Gustavo Graf/Reuters)

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Since taking office, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has enjoyed one of the highest approval ratings in Latin America, defying growing concerns over his country’s economy, which has stalled after years of mediocre but constant growth, and an increase in violence. But not anymore. His approval rating has fallen dramatically in 2020, including among many of the independents who are disappointed after joining the electoral coalition that helped him achieve a historic victory at the polls.

What happened?

López Obrador has made his fair share of messy policy decisions, like canceling the construction of a new airport for Mexico City, a third of which was already completed; cutting social programs he considered obsolete or corrupt; and systematically dismantling some of the country’s independent regulatory agencies.…  Seguir leyendo »

El candidato presidencial democráta, Bernie Sanders, participa en el evento March to the Polls, el 15 de febrero de 2020 en Las Vegas Nevada. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

MundoAmérica,

Puede que el senador Bernie Sanders (independiente por Vermont) sea el candidato demócrata favorito para la próxima elección en Estados Unidos, pero su margen de victoria en New Hampshire debería haberle dado de qué pensar. En la elección de hace cuatro años, Sanders ganó decisivamente en New Hampshire, superando a la futura candidata Hillary Clinton por casi 60,000 votos. Esta vez no. Hubo otras tendencias preocupantes para Sanders: la mayoría de los votantes primarios de New Hampshire eligieron a uno de los rivales centristas de Sanders. La nominación demócrata podría estar a su alcance, pero la legendaria coalición de Sanders aún no se ha materializado por completo.…  Seguir leyendo »

Members of the Mexican National Guard try to block entry to arriving Central American migrants crossing from the Suchiate River in the southern state of Chiapas on Jan. 20. (Alejandro Cegarra/Bloomberg)

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Last year was Mexico’s most violent year in its recent history. More than 35,000 people were murdered; an additional 5,000 disappeared. Some activists are mobilizing to pressure the government to act, but they’re being met by calculated indifference by the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

On Thursday, Javier Sicilia and Julián LeBaron, two of the country’s most respected anti-violence activists, set out on the “Marcha por la Paz,” a walk for peace taking off from Cuernavaca, the capital of the southern state of Morelos. That’s where the son of Sicilia, a renowned poet, was brutally murdered almost a decade ago.…  Seguir leyendo »

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El sábado 16 de noviembre le pedí a Pete Buttigieg, uno de los dos militares veteranos que buscan la candidatura a la presidencia de Estados Unidos desde el partido Demócrata, que explicara su doctrina de política exterior. Buttigieg —que ha pedido el fin de las “guerras interminables” de Estados Unidos— dijo que, de no haber otra alternativa razonable, enviaría tropas estadounidenses a conflictos en el extranjero para así salvar vidas estadounidenses y proteger las alianzas del país.

“Todo eso tiene que ir de la mano”, explicó en una entrevista en el debate demócrata de Univisión, en California. Tuvo el tipo de visión moderada y elocuente que le ha valido elogios entre un número creciente de votantes potenciales en Iowa y New Hampshire, donde ahora lidera las encuestas y ha comenzado a surgir como una alternativa viable al vicepresidente Joe Biden como candidato presidencial de ese partido en 2020.…  Seguir leyendo »

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El brutal asesinato de al menos nueve miembros de una familia mormona en el norte de México el lunes sacudió a un país que aún está procesando un ataque que obligó al gobierno a liberar al hijo de Joaquín el Chapo Guzmán después de ser capturado.

Todo esto ha contribuido a una sensación de desesperación y frustración en México.

Hace unas semanas, el Cártel de Sinaloa reaccionó a un operativo para capturar a Ovidio Guzmán López al sitiar la ciudad de Culiacán. El gobierno mexicano demostró ser tan incapaz de manejar la respuesta violenta que el presidente, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, decidió autorizar la liberación inmediata del joven Guzmán.…  Seguir leyendo »

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The vicious murder of at least nine members of a Mormon family in northern Mexico on Monday has shaken a country still processing an assault last month that forced the government to release the son of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán after he was captured.

It has all contributed to a sense of despair and frustration in Mexico.

A few weeks ago, the Sinaloa cartel, Mexico’s most powerful criminal organization, reacted to an operation to capture Ovidio Guzmán Lopez by laying siege to the city of Culiacán. The Mexican government proved so inept at handling the violent response that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador chose to authorize the young Guzmán’s immediate release.…  Seguir leyendo »

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México ha sufrido 13 años de un conflicto sangriento y doloroso que ha cobrado la vida de 200 000 personas y ha visto la desaparición de al menos 30 000 más. La guerra contra el narcotráfico ha dejado perplejos a los últimos dos presidentes: Felipe Calderón, quien imprudentemente inició la confrontación contra los poderosos carteles de la droga en México; y Enrique Peña Nieto, cuya administración, plagada de corrupción, empeoró el problema. El actual presidente, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, prometió una nueva estrategia: “Abrazos, no balazos”. Es una rendición unilateral del uso legítimo de la fuerza por parte del gobierno. A pesar de los niveles récord de violencia, López Obrador insiste en que no se seguirá la misma política de confrontación que tuvieron sus predecesores.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAmérica,

En los últimos años la detención de inmigrantes en los Estados Unidos se ha convertido en una industria lucrativa. El número de inmigrantes alojados en instalaciones privadas ha crecido exponencialmente, al igual que el presupuesto para su arresto y expulsión. Solo en la administración de Trump, empresas privadas como GEO Group y CoreCivic han ganado cientos de millones de dólares. Daniel Carrillo, un activista de derechos humanos de Los Ángeles, me dijo recientemente sobre el tema: “Es un negocio, nada más”.

Los defensores de este modelo con fines de lucro dicen que es más eficiente a que lo haga el Estado.…  Seguir leyendo »

AMLO y la promesa de la transformación

MundoAmérica,

COLUMNISTAS:

Soledad Loaeza, Julio Scherer Ibarra, León Krauze, Oswaldo Zavala, Edna Jaime, Mario Maldonado

Ilustraciones por Edel Rodriguez para The Washington Post

Los límites de la excepcionalidad El proyecto de AMLO es muy ambicioso. Por eso es inquietante. Por Soledad Loaeza

Soledad Loaeza es profesora investigadora del Centro de Estudios Internacionales en El Colegio de México.

Andrés Manuel López Obrador insiste en que su triunfo en la elección de 2018 fue una ruptura con el pasado y que estamos en el año cero de una nueva etapa en la historia de México. La primera señal de la nueva época, dice, es el liderazgo político diferente que él encarna.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAmérica,

Andrés Manuel López Obrador isn’t fond of dissent.

Mexico’s president routinely goes after the press, his opposition and the country’s few independent watchdogs, questioning with great zeal their loyalty and commitment to “real change” — that is, to him and his political project.

López Obrador has also set his sights on Mexico’s independent institutions, which have been shaped, with great difficulty, to stand up for human rights, sensible economic policy analysis and development following decades of one-party rule during much of the 20th century. In the past few months, López Obrador has denigrated Mexico’s respected human rights commission and used his daily news conference to personally scorn Guillermo García Alcocer, the former head of the country’s energy regulator, and other independent officials.…  Seguir leyendo »

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On Wednesday, The Post published the results of a poll it conducted alongside leading Mexican newspaper Reforma. It is a sweeping overview of Mexican public opinion. Some of its conclusions are unsurprising — with a 70 percent approval rating, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador remains popular, which is to be expected for a man who was elected just a year ago in a historic landslide and who has yet to face a crisis to truly test his mettle (although that might change soon).

The poll also probes Mexican attitudes toward immigration. Although other surveys have recently hinted at Mexican prejudice, The Post poll’s results are shocking: Fifty-one percent agree to the use of the National Guard, a new branch of Mexico’s armed forces, “to combat the migration of undocumented Central Americans in Mexico,” the equivalent of a majority of Americans supporting a hypothetical deployment of the Army to persecute undocumented immigrants inside the United States.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAmérica,

On Monday, after seven months in office, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador threw himself a party to celebrate the one-year anniversary of his victory at the polls. And not just any party. Mariachi music filled the air as thousands gathered in the Zócalo, Mexico City’s massive main square. El Universal newspaper showed police officers removing street vendors who weren’t selling merchandise related to the event or the man of the hour. López Obrador himself spoke for almost an hour and a half. Some of the country’s most prominent businessmen sat near the stage, listening attentively. After the proceedings, he led the crowd in a solemn rendition of the national anthem.…  Seguir leyendo »

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Early every morning since he took office, Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador holds court in front of dozens of reporters, foreign correspondents and the occasional YouTube personality for a daily news conference. Questions often veer into sycophancy. The 65-year-old López Obrador,who is also known by his initials AMLO, seemed genuinely flattered when a reporter inquired about his stamina: “You are like a Kenyan runner,” the woman asked. “How do you do it?”

López Obrador’s answers have also gained headlines for all the wrong reasons. Recently, a young YouTuber took to the microphone to ask the president whether he would consider including someone regarded as one of Mexico’s most virulent anti-Semites for a position in his cabinet.…  Seguir leyendo »

Univision journalist Jorge Ramos, left, talks on the phone at the airport in Caracas after being expelled from Venezuela on Tuesday. (Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)

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On Monday afternoon in Caracas, Nicolás Maduro’s government detained and harassed Univision journalist Jorge Ramos. Maduro lost his temper after the journalist showed him dramatic footage that Ramos had captured of young Venezuelans rummaging through scraps in the back of a garbage truck near the presidential palace of Miraflores just a day before the interview. According to Ramos, Maduro tried to cover the iPad on which the video was playing and then stood up to leave. Surprised, Ramos reminded the Venezuelan strongman that his behavior was more akin to a dictator than a self-professed democrat.

Though entirely true, his point was not well taken.…  Seguir leyendo »

Merchandise with the image of Mexico's new president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, for sale the day of his inauguration in Mexico City on Saturday. (Rodrigo Arangua/AFP/Getty Images)

MundoAmérica,

After losing two consecutive presidential elections, both of which he dismissed as fraudulent, Andrés Manuel López Obrador won the presidency of Mexico in a remarkable landslide on July 1. He was finally inaugurated on Saturday, when he gave a combative speech in which he repeated a long list of ambitious promises and measures.

López Obrador will now wield almost complete power, unprecedented in the country’s modern history. Morena, the new party he founded and guides, will control both houses of Congress and almost two-thirds of the country’s state legislatures. The opposition is in disarray, along with almost every political party, shaken by the magnitude of López Obrador’s mandate.…  Seguir leyendo »

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At the beginning of May, with a couple of months to go until the Mexican elections, I interviewed Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the presidential candidate of the leftist Democratic Revolutionary Party. We spoke for more than an hour, most of which he devoted to his usual talking points about how today’s Mexico is a cabal of rich men who operate in cahoots with a corrupt political system obsessed with self-preservation.

I had heard it all before, as had the Mexican electorate, which rejected Lopez Obrador’s bid for the presidency last month, giving the victory to his Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, opponent, Enrique Peña Nieto, by more than 6 percentage points.…  Seguir leyendo »