By Nathaniel Parish Flannery, Contributor

Mexico now has Thomas Friedman’s stamp of approval. Within the country, however, criticism of the prevailing economic model has not dissipated with the transition to a new government. Shortly after Mexico’s July, 2012 election, I took a trip to the Atlantic coast home state of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a charismatic and controversial candidate who lost the election and then staged a series of massive protests. While in Tabasco, I met with the local fishermen who venture out into the region’s lakes and lagoons in search of a frightening looking, slow-swimming fish that inspired the nickname “El Peje” for Lopez Obrador. As I explained in this article for The Atlantic, like a languid pejelagarto fish, Lopez Obrador struggles to keep up with the rapidly shifting currents of Mexico’s evolving political and economic environment. In an election in which voters called for an end to drugwar violence but also wanted to protect Mexico’s recent record of economic growth, Lopez Obrador became a polarizing candidate. Many voters from Mexico’s far left viewed him as the country’s only savior from a return to rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the front-running umbrella group that ruled Mexico for 71 years before being ousted from power in 2000. However, although some voters viewed Lopez Obrador as an important alternative to the centrist PRI and the right-of-center party of outgoing president Felipe Calderon, many Mexicans were also wary of his outdated economic views and anachronistic policy ideas. At his final rally in Mexico City, I watched as Lopez Obrador told the crowd that he’d deliver “a real change” and that during his administration Mexico “would produce what we consume.” …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest