A newspaper's front page shows the Mexican military marching in a Bastille Day parade next to a video still of one of the top cartel kingpins escaping from his maximum-security prison cell. The headline cites a top government official blaming deference to human rights – not high-level collusion – for his escape.
It was a great example of how Mexico often seems focused on the wrong thing.
For most Mexicans, the headlines are a tragic amusement. More important is the failure to improve public services, create better jobs or provide basic security in much of the country. Inadequate improvements are the problem.
I live in a rich neighborhood where the impunity of the well-heeled is everywhere. Cars line up in front of no-parking signs, blocking passage for everyone else. Trucks belch black smoke while individuals have to pay for emissions tests twice a year. In traffic the operative phrase is "you first, after me." Forget about safe sidewalks and neighborhood parks: everyone gets their own without concern for the commons.
My carpool partner, a Mexican nearing retirement, says she tells her university-educated kids to leave the country because there’s no future. She notes that the peso is at a record low and public confidence in the government at the lowest in a generation.
The contrast from a year ago is stunning. In 2013-2014, while I was studying Spanish in the U.S., the international media swooned about Mexico's prospects. Reforms were opening up energy and telecoms, anti-trust rules were going to be enforced, education was going to be improved and elected officials were going to become more accountable to voters. Mexico was booming.
Then the wheels started coming off. Implication of police in the murder of 43 students undermined the government's talking points on better security. Sweetheart real estate deals benefitting the president's wife and finance minister put faces on corruption and one of the reporters who broke the stories was fired. Nationwide elections punished all the political parties and sliding oil prices lessened the benefits of energy reform.
Of course there's still plenty to love about this great city. There's great culture, food, weather, etc. It's safer than much of the U.S. — no need to worry about random gun violence, at least. Newly elected independent politicians and growing civil society are broadening participation. It's a massive, dynamic place with as much potential as ever.
I chalk up my skepticism to the cycle that comes with living in a new country. In the first months everything is a thrill; after a year everything seems annoying. If you don't leave, you adapt and absorb the enduring charms of a place. I'm hopeful.