A new Administration in Mexico

Sunday June 2 was election day in Mexico.  Unlike in Canada and in the United States, Mexicans directly elect their president who can serve only one six year term. The election campaign here has been one of the most violent in history. The following tally appeared in a national newspaper this past week

"According to a count made by Grupo REFORMA, from January until the close of the campaigns last Wednesday, candidates, pre-candidates and aspirants to occupy a popularly elected position were murdered in at least 14 states.

Of the total number of candidates murdered, 5 were seeking positions in Guerrero; 3, in Jalisco; 3, in Chiapas; 3, in Michoacán; 1, in Veracruz; 1, in Colima; 1, in Mexico City; 1, in Morelos; 1, in the State of Mexico; 1, in Puebla [another candidate was murdered in this state after publication of the article as he stepped onto the podium to close his campaign]; 1, in Tamaulipas; 1, in Guanajuato; 1, in Oaxaca, and 1, in Sinaloa.

8 were from Morena [the current ruling party]; 4, from PAN; 3, from the PAN-PRI-PRD alliance (the major opposition); 2, from PVEM [Mexico's green party]; 2, from the Citizen Movement (MC) [a second opposition party]; 2, from the PRI; 1, from the PRD; 1, from the PT, and 1, from the Chiapas Popular Party." [It is interesting that they break down the PAN-PRI-PRD alliance as being distinct from each of the opposition parties separately (accounting for 10 of the deaths) and Morena separately as they too have a alliance (Morena, PVEM and PT(workers party), which together accounted for 11 of the deaths. The total tally was 24. Four more candidates died before Sunday's elections and the tally doesn't include campaign managers or family members and bystanders that were killed as at the same time the candidates (over 250 additional people. 2 people were gunned down Sunday at the polling stations in a robbery of 1500 ballets.] And its all seen as normal....I can't imagine a tally of murders broken down by party affiliation in Canada.

Every Mexican I spoke to in the past two weeks said they intended to vote. Mexican senior missionaries went home to vote. The picture is of one of the wonderful Mexican couples we serve with, the Argueta's. The stain on their thumbs is to help prevent people from voting twice. I have been following the national news in Mexico which has been reporting on a trajectory very similar to the one that brought Venezuela to where it is today with the middle class fleeing for their lives. The base of Mexico's current administration are those that receive government payments, which the administration has said would be curtailed if any other party were to form the government. The ruling party coalition won and their candidate Claudia Sheinbaum, will govern Mexico for the next six years. In her victory speech she is reported to have said that she will guarantee religious freedom in Mexico which will benefit all churches here.  

We were interviewed this past week and given an additional assignment by Elder Montoya, the Mexican Area President, to assume some of the responsibilities of another senior couple that is finishing their mission this month. The new responsibilities are additional to those we already have. We will be helping orient senior missionaries prior to their arrival and keeping in contact with them and their mission presidents throughout the duration of their service with a view to making the experience a positive one. The Mexico Area would like to have at least one senior missionary couple from Mexico serving in every stake and district. The Church has just over 1.5 million members in Mexico, which is the second-largest number of members in a country, behind the United States and just ahead of Brazil. There are 227 stakes and 47 districts in Mexico (Canada has only 53 stakes and 4 districts). There are currently 111 senior couples serving in Mexico so we have a ways to go to meet the Area goal. 

When we lived in Mexico before, adolescents in our ward boarded and went to the Centro Escolar Benemerito de las Americas (CEBA) in Mexico City, a church run high school that was developed in the early 1960's when this level of education was difficult to access for members of the Church. When we were serving in Salt Lake City we read about its establishment and the developing of its programming over the decades. The school was closed in 2013 and transformed into a missionary training centre. We went there on Saturday to cheer on a senior missionary volleyball team that was participating in an church employee family outing with a volleyball tournament. The location was every whit as beautiful as the Missionary Training Centre in Provo, with the addition of palm trees and green parakeets. Today the property is a peaceful, beautiful oasis in a busy struggle-to-survive area of the CDMX.

Summer is nearly here and at this altitude, the sun burns quickly so I bought myself a straw hat. I really wanted a black one like the those the Jewish men wear in this neighbourhood but I wasn't too sure just how that would be received by them because I dress a lot like them already except for my missionary tag. Sister Schlachter and I went shopping for groceries on Friday afternoon and I wore my hat - en route, I seemed to attract much more attention than I usually do and it didn't feel positive. In the check out line the people that pack groceries for tips stepped aside and we ended up packing our own groceries while they watched us. Now that I think about it Jewish families shop at Jewish stores, not here. Sister Schlachter thought the packers might have misunderstood something she said to them, to me it seemed to be more complicated than that.