Francisco Davalos

Must of us expected a decision like this since a year or so. Mexico will anticipate a 7 billion dollars payment for the WB and the BID lowering our debt from a 7.3% to a 6.4% of the GDP. I wrote we expected it earlier because  in the last months our currency has been pressed because of the next month’s elections. The news are good because the government will buy to the National Bank part of its reserves that on June 16, 2006 summed 76.7 billion dollars, in order to pay a part of the 57 billion dollar foreing debt. Today’s currency exchange is 11.43 pesos per dollar and the oil barrel (Texas) is nearly 71.00 usd, a year ago you could pay a dollar with 10.76 pesos and the Texas oil was at 59.37usd.

1. Waiting a year costed us (mexicans) 11.43-10.76=0.67*7 billion dollars= 46,900,000,000.00 pesos; plus,

2. Interests paid for the same year.

3. As we can see oil prices went up, not down as the federal government anticipated, so we could have paid it earlier. Brazil, Argentina and Nigeria did it better, but finally we are taking the steps our country needs.

Unfortunately, not all news are good news. We are finding out that Felipe Calderon, running for the presidential election supported by the conservative party PAN, helped his brother’s wife in order to obtain millions of dollars in contracts in the energy section, but he wasn’t alone. Juan Bueno Torio, running for the Senate, supported by the same political party gave millions of dollars in contracts to his family and friends while he worked in PEMEX.

In the 2000 election, the PRI used money from PEMEX in order to pay the political campaign and when knew, the scandal was named “The PEMEXgate” in an allussion to “Watergate”. It seems like in Mexico, the “gates” are wide open for bandits and we still vote for them as our representatives.

On Chippla’s blog, you’ll find a couple of interesting posts that will clearify this ideas.

http://chippla.blogspot.com/2006/04/as-nigeria-becomes-debt-free.html

http://chippla.blogspot.com/2006/06/iran-america-and-foreign-exchange.htm

http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h10/

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/nacion/139764.html

Disfrutar de escribir en mi idioma natal es un gusto especial, me abre las posibilidades para explorar palabras escondidas, olvidadas o de plano temidas. No solo el gusto por escribirlas, sino también por leerlas, hacerlas conjunto e interpretar al que escribe mas allá de la frontera geopolítica, imperceptible muchas veces en el mundo virtual. Hoy las palabras, necias, como siempre me han encontrado ( me encuentran ellas, es parte de ser afortunado (¿?)), y he querido compartir el grato momento con ustedes: Relatus Patheticus, escrito por Marco Montellano en Mundo al revés. Me gustó, me gustó tanto como abrir paréntesis en mis escritos, lo disfruté como un paréntesis en la vida. Diviértanse tanto como yo, el blog contiene información sobre Bolivia, un país más con recursos petroleros. Lo añadimos a la lista.

http://www.mundoalreves.com/mar_seccion/articulo.php?ID_art=211

Sometimes, we are not in the mood of being surprised. Good luck or bad luck is something to be out of our hands, making a slight but important difference between taking a chance and having good luck (or bad, ouch!!).

Hard working people that have obtained material succes in our societies, most of the time prefer to say that there’s no good luck, indeed, you can obtain what you want with the correct preparation and the opportunity. L=P+O

7:19am you are leaving your apartment to work, suddenly, an earthquake occurs, the building where you live falls appart and you enter to the ruins taking out your wife, leaving her “safe” and entering again to the ruins to rescue your only child. While in there, ruins collapse.

True strory, please forward this to ten persons…

OK… the story is true and under a “clean” view, is only an event, no adjectives, no following adverbs, just an event or a chain of events. But what about luck?

L=P+O is not the correct answer, or not for me. Could we afirm that opportunities come by luck?

Some days ago, a friend of mine that has a great economic success told me to install an aquarium in my bussiness for good luck. I won’t mess with others luck, so I installed this little aquarium. After a couple of days I have discovered that this little world calms me and instead of yelling I am worried about the temperature or whatever. After a minute of relax, my mind is clear and my thoughts straight again.

Two Aequidens Rivulatus and two Plecostemus live together, how long would they live? I don’t know as well as I don’t know how many days I am going to live, evenmore, I do not know how many of this days I’ll be happy, sad, healthy or sick. I don’t know if I’ll win the Melate (lotto) or just let it pass.

So, it seems that you have to be lucky in order to believe in luck.

The first days of March 2001, the world knew that the ancient Buddhas in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, were destroyed. We all thought it was a barbaric act against human history. You can be against someone’s ideas, acts or attitudes, but as long as you are not damaged or affected in your person, family or properties, you have to respect.

Yesterday, the Mexicans have a terrible view of what an intolerant act is. The conservative Major of the city of Colima in the middle east Mexico, decided to “move” an “”"OBSCENE STATUE”"”.

I still remember my history classes and the “underwear” added to some paintings as well as mutilations to some “indecent” sculptures. Nudity is obscene only in twisted minds.

Leoncio Morán Sanchez, is the Mexican Taliban. In his stupid attempt, he damaged, in an irreversible way, the statue made and doned by José Luis Cuevas. The statue is placed in state land, not city’s land, in the middle of a circle. The author has filed a demand against the major and hopefully he will be punished.

This is not the first time that a conservative authority from the National Action Party (PAN) take “Action” against indecent or immoral attitudes such as saying “bad” words in public or even worse, using mini skirts in goverment facilities.

This is the Mexico of our days, that it looks like the Mexico before the 1910 civil war. What a shame.

Links are in spanish

 http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/cultura/48942.html

http://www.etcetera.com.mx/2000/390/pm390.html

http://www.laprensa.com.ni/cgi-bin/print.pl?id=revista-20040328-02

An African god, the creator of the first Hottentot, that from time to time comes to the Earth in a Hottentot manner. La Fonda del Hotentote (The Hottentot’s Boardinghouse) is an excelent place to eat traditional Mexican food, and I belive that it should be named under the god’s name. Every meal is a banquet, in the street of Cruces between Mesones and Regina in Mexico City’s downtown. The entrance does not promises a lot, but when you get upstairs, a magnificent, ancient, small building appears. It has three tables in an indoor patio and eight more tables inside of a single large room. The ceiling has wooden support, the walls are painted in vivid colors and from there are hanging beautiful paintings.

The food is great. You’ll be received with a blue tlacoyo and my recomendation is on thursdays Mole de Olla and fridays Haba soup and Pollo en Mole Verde, everithing accompanied with handmade blue tortillas and Horchata.

The legen has changed, Gundya Tikoa camed to Mexico and let us preserve our traditional meals, everything in downtown Mexico City. Today is thursday, see you there, I’ll be having my Mole de Olla in the patio, while listening Boleros.