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Mexican society is known for its strong and regretful sense of machismo. Uneducated women are the obvious victims of this mentality, but the gay community, although not always as visible, has also had to put up with discrimination. Mexico has had Gay Pride Parades since 1979 and they have become really loud and colorful parties where people who aren’t afraid of being different, or living with those who are, go and have a real blast. These kind of events, the raising of rainbow flags in some of the trendiest clubs (who typically bring in the best international Djs from the electronic scene), and their increasing presence on TV as hosts and entertainers has led to a greater acceptance of sexual diversity by younger Mexican generations. The 2006 parade, which was celebrated worldwide on the last Sunday of June, brought 150 thousand participants out to the streets that were led by the president of the Human Rights Commission of Mexico City. In contrast, the second parade carried out in 1980 gathered just 7 thousand people. The parade starts up by the Angel of Independence on Reforma Street and lands symbolically down in the Zócalo, or Main Square, just in front of the Catholic Cathedral that can be seen in the background of this picture.
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In order to survive many senior citizens in Mexico depend on their social pensions, which can range from 1,500 to 5,000 pesos a month ($137-457 US). However, even if they get the big paycheck, that amount only covers about 56 percent of what the basic consumer basket costs. The National Institute for Fine Arts (INBA), which resides inside the Palace shown to the right, turns sixty this year. Its main responsibility is to promote culture and arts throughout Mexico. It does so through 29 specialized schools, three dance, theater and opera companies and eight orchestra and choir groups. It is also responsible for the restoration and preservation of murals, buildings and general pieces of art declared as part of the Mexican cultural patrimony. However, considering that it requested a budget of 2.4 billion pesos and received only 1.7 it will have hard time carrying out its duties this year. Not only was the approved budget smaller than requested but smaller than what was given to the institution last year by about 1.5 percent. If you consider that inflation was also roughly 4 percent, the picture just keeps getting sadder.
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The carillon at the Basilica of Guadalupe was built in 1991 by renown Mexican architect Pedro Ramírez Vázquez who is also responsible for designing the National Museum of Anthropology and the Aztec Stadium, home of the Pumas —UNAM’s soccer team. It has an impressive total of 48 bells that can play 23 different melodies. In reality, the 23-meter monument is a symbol of diversity in the sense that it has four distinct forms of time reading. Its left side has a solar clock, the front has a traditional clock and an astrolabe while the right side has an Aztec calendar. The most impressive aspect of it all, at least for me, was to find a cyclorama or automata representing the story of the apparition of the Virgin to Juan Diego. This type of mechanism, although common in Europe, is something that I’ve never really seen anywhere else in Mexico, or Latin America, for that mater. The mechanism that controls the action and the lighting is a piece of Dutch engineering. The acrobat in this picture prays, probably to the Virgin, before he begins jumping on a rope some three meters above the ground without a safety net.
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In the large Aztec tongue-twisting family of gods, Mictlantecuhtli and Mictecacihuatl are the keepers of the underworld. However, Mictlan isn’t hell, its just the basement of the large pantheon of gods where those who have died of any death other than battle, birth-giving and water related accidents move into after leaving this world. Death is not an end but a continuation of life in a spiritual realm. Thus, hierarchies still exist and in Mictlan you can still continue carrying out sacrifices in order to reach other levels in the world of the dead. I guess this mentality explains why Mexicans are always dreaming of being somewhere else and aspiring for something better. It doesn’t even end with death.
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The sun was already very harsh by the time I walked past this group of kids. I was looking for some shadows or a place where the light wouldn’t be so hard to work with but my search-mode was terminated by the one on the right. He asked and almost demanded that I take his picture, which is something odd in the sense that normally people shy away and want quite the opposite. As I was struggling with some reflections bouncing off his virgin and didn’t just click-away, he thought I was being disrespectful and just pretending to take his picture which made him and his posse (another six or seven laying on the floor) snap their heads defiantly at me until I explained I was doing tests. They had presented some hand signs and joked about me not know what I was seeing, to which I replied something of the sort of “yeah right” because they smelled like gang lingo. They reacted immediately and put their hands down which only made us all suspicious of each other. I finished, smiled, said thanks and parted. They never asked where I was going to publish the picture or if I could send it to them.
You encounter situations like theses from time to time and I feel that in such a huge and impersonal city it’s a way of people asking that you recognize their existence so that they are not just swallowed-up by a sea of people and forgotten.
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Most people don’t realize it and many who do tend to forget that the official name of this country is United Mexican States. This image of a broken Mexican emblem, which was probably left out in the rain after some patriotic celebration, was the first picture I took after I finished my assignment for the Federal Electoral Institute. It’s not excellent, but it is representative. Although the elections were technically over and we were just waiting for the Federal Electoral Tribunal to confirm or contradict the results of the first, tension and frustration was spreading around the country. With such a small percentile lead by Felipe Calderon of the ruling party, PAN, and such a long history of electoral fraud under the “Perfect Dictatorship” that ruled this country for 60 years, there was little faith in the institutions that facilitate democracy…no matter how honorably they might have conducted themselves. The elections had already divided friends and families into political factions and everybody was now pro or anti-Peje, as the left wing presidential candidate, López Obrador, is known.
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On the 16th of September of 2006, like every other year, a flag led the Mexican armed forces down Reforma Street for people to cheer them on. This year, however, the celebrations were filled with a mixed mood of relief and distrust. Lopez Obrador, who had taken the same street for 54 days to protest the verdict of the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE), had only just liberated it the night before. For weeks there had been rumors and fear of a possible confrontation between the Army and Obrador’s supporters, as the first would take serious offence if their parade was derailed.
Atenco Breaking the Siege part 1 [14:45m]: Play Now Atenco Breaking the Siege part 2 [18:24m]: Play Now Atenco Breaking the Siege part 3 [14:47m]: Play Now (No Ratings Yet) Loading ... 
You can find them 24/7 anywhere and in any form imaginable. Chiles are eaten for breakfast, appetizers, and main entrées and even as candy and dessert and they’ve been part of the regional diet since about 7500 B.C. Some even say it was the first plant to be domesticated by the indigenous people —even before beans and maize. Oddly enough there isn’t any real Aztec god associated with the plant. Maybe, because of its multiple and diverse properties, no one God could have claimed to be its master. It was and still is used as medicine in order to combat parasites in the gastrointestinal-tract, decongest respiratory systems, alleviate pain from arthritis and recent studies suggest it might even hold promise in the treatment of diabetes and cancer. It was one of the first biochemical weapons as smoke from burnt chiles where used in wars to blind and confuse enemies—including the domestic ones since misbehaving children were often punished with spicy air blown onto their faces.
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The Sixth State of the Union by former president Fox [3:41m]: 
