Juanson World

The Washington Post ran an interesting article on Monday comparing the image of candidate Vicente Fox in 2000 to the unfulfilled hopes of his presidency. Fox's six year term will continue to be debated as the 2006 election approaches.

Yesterday, Mexican lawmakers passed a bill which would allow Mexicans living abroad to vote in said election via absentee ballot:

The bill passed the lower house by 455 votes to 6, after having been approved by the Senate in April by 91 to 2. President Vicente Fox said later he would sign the bill into law, calling it "a great achievement."

The lopsided victory reflected the growing political power of Mexican migrants, who in recent years have formed potent organizations to funnel money into political races and public works here. Some migrants have even won elected office on the state and local level in Mexico while maintaining homes in the United States.

By most estimates, there are about 10 million Mexican citizens or Mexicans with dual citizenship living in the United States, many illegally, accounting for some 14 percent of the country's electorate.

One interesting point that underlies all of this is whether these 10 million Mexicans plan on returning to Mexico at some point in their lives. Based on anecdotal evidence, I have found that most Latin American immigrants to the States tend to consider their stay as a temporary "visit" to earn some money and then return home. Hence Latino immigrants' desire to pass on Spanish to their offspring and their reluctance to fully "assimilate" to North America. Mexican immigrants, which account for the largest single nationality of Latin Americans in the US, can wield significant influence both in US elections (as I discussed below) and in what is gearing up to be a very important election in Mexico.