Personality Crisis: Jay Watts on Mexico

Jay Watts is a photojournalist editor of the English-language Mexican news site Mexico Solidarity, which also hosts the podcast Soberanía. The site is part of the Mexico Solidary Project, which aims to promote “people-to-people understanding across borders and to concentrate efforts to oppose the US dominance that undermines México’s national sovereignty.”

In the first of two episodes, Jay talks with Dylan Ris, standing in for John Cole, who’s getting ready for his twice-yearly relocation. Jay and Dylan have a wide-ranging discussion of the Mexican Left, the US-Mexico relationship, including the USMCA negotiation, as well as the recent revelations about the CIA’s involvement in Mexico.

Here are Jay’s links:

Mexico Solidarity Media: https://mexicosolidarity.com/

Mexico Solidarity Project: https://mexicosolidarityproject.org/

Jay’s Site showcasing some of his excellent photography: https://jay-watts.com/

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Kay W.6 months ago

Thanks - good show. I’d like a follow up focused on the rural Mexican Left and how that works with the Sheinbaum/ educated urban Left.

r po6 months ago

Ok. Two things, first the corn thing. Whew that is complicated and there is not enough room in this margin/box. I guess to sum it all up, Mexican corn/tequila/cacao/coffee in general have an enormous genetic diversity and production of the interesting stuff is near completely artisanal. Of that list the only thing the US can supply, and does, is corn. Corn varieties in the US are not diverse and industrial production is at planet-scale. It's not possible, as Jay mentions, for even medium scale MX corn producers to compete against US tariff-free imports. At the same time, there is a small but growing interest backed by US $$ to support the artisanal economy required to produce exportable quantities of some of the exquisite varieties of native Mexican corn. The main center of that effort currently is masiendo.com. Part of the fascinating history is described in the book they publish: "Masa". Right now their co-operatives support something like several thousand farms.

r po6 months ago

However, it's important to note that unfortunately a big part of the reason for the current state of MX corn farming is something they did to themselves, in the completely normal modernization process that in the US led to the overwhelming success of germ free "white bread". That requires a history too, and for fun, one of the main actors was/is an MX corporation by the name of "Bimbo". You want to learn about that the best reference I've found is "Searching for Modern Mexico: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Global Economy". That book needed a better editor but it gets the narrative across, for four interesting products: corn, tequila/mezcal, avocados, and beer. I'm happy to talk off-line with anyone interested about this. For instance my wife and I have been at the center of the center in the ah Centro de Abastos in Oaxaca several times.

r po6 months ago

Sigh, someday I'll remember how this platform orders its posts and replies.

r po6 months ago

The second thing discussed by Jay is tension between Mexico being able to fight for its interests in the renegotiation of the USMCA:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States%E2%80%93Mexico%E2%80%93Canada_Agreement

It turns out that the previous agreements sparked enormous investments from wealthy countries into Mexico that have generated a widely dispersed manufacturing and industrial base that has lead to quite visible signs of rising incomes and prosperity in a large number of Mexican cities. My wife was a career process-engineer for a large US corporation that sent her as an auditor to several of its manufacturing plants in MX, with me tagging along, which kinda jump started our deep interest in the country. In our travels we've talked to EU engineers on stints in MX and watched drunk East Asian engineers stagger out of Guadalajara restaurants. (I'm sure they're quite competent.) No way the MX government, any political party, would jeopardize that environment.

r po6 months ago

We've been going to Mexico for 35 years and the positive changes, especially in the last decade, are astounding. Ever hear of Monterrey? Have a look at some online images. Most of the new looking stuff is new.

Hard to predict how this all plays out given MAGA stupidity, but I guess we'll find out.

mister mixAuthor6 months ago

Interesting - thanks! One thing I've read is that Morena's decision to put price controls on staples like tortillas (corn) encourages the import of cheap corn from the US. So doing a good thing (keeping food affordable) also discourages local production of corn.

Also, on your other comment, "Bimbo" almost makes Hostess look like health food. Their pre-made toast (haven't seen it in the US) is really addictive.

r po6 months ago

I hadn't heard about the price controls, but yup, that's what they would do. Doing nothing would have the same outcome, I think, fwiw. Bulk tortillas whether maiz or de harina are cheap in MX as I'm sure you know, maybe a few US pennies per tortilla. My wife and I (both engineers) once spent a half hour mesmerized at a little family tortillería that had 5 members various ages working stations on an automated assembly line, output of a pad of masa to a cooked tortilla about every 5 seconds. They were delicious and very cheap. Like a $1 for 20.

Anyway, the corn business is basic food security but prosperity seems to require things like USMCA and that is hard complicated situation.

r po6 months ago

Woops just looking into the website it is masienda.com, not masiendo.com.

I regret the error.

Personality Crisis: Jay Watts on Mexico

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