J.Edward

Apologies for bumping the thread but I'll be going through MEX soon and wanted to ask a question.

Specifically, I'll have to overnight before I can catch my onward connection and was wondering if it was A) possible... (or advisable) to just camp out in the airport B) if A's out, what's a good airport hotel which can offer a clean, safe and comfortable room.

Thanks!

JDiver

With Mexico City traffic - it's not even about safegty in this instance - I can recommend the Hilton, which is IN the terminal building (third level.) It is so easy to stay there, get some brekkies in the moring and wander down to collect your BPs using the lift and escalator. Nearby are the Camino Real Aeropuerto (connected to the airport by a pedestrian bridge, but less convenient to the international terminal, than the Hilton,) and a Fiesta Inn (less than ten minutes away, but why hassle it?)

Duhey2

J. Edward,

Make sure you check out the CO PC there....great selection of tequilas and other margarita fixin's. The beer selection's good too.

coplatsat

In the PC, as a tequila chaser, ask the bartender for the sangrita de la casa. It is a spicey tomato, slightly sweet (wtih orange juice) concoction. I hate the commericial ones but love the ones that are made in the bar. The PC has a very tasty one.

In fact, ask him for tequila a las banderas with the sangrita de la casa. You get the tequilla, lime juice, and sangrita. Drunk in that order.

JDiver

It would appear a number of Mexico City PRD legislators have publicly announced they will accept President- elect Calderón when he is appointed Dec 1.

(10-04) 18:25 PDT MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AP) --

A spokeswoman for leftist legislators from Mexico City said Wednesday they would recognize conservative Felipe Calderon as president-elect, despite orders to shun him as part of protests over the July 2 election their party claims was fraudulent.

Nancy Cardenas said she was making the statement on behalf of the dominant 34-member delegation of the Democratic Revolution Party in the legislature representing the capital — a stronghold of party ex-presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

"We are going to recognize Calderon because he is going to take office on Dec. 1 as president of the republic, but it doesn't mean that we agree with his platform," Cardenas told reporters, according to a transcript of her remarks distributed to news media.

remainder of article here.

The implications are that Mexico City will return to a semblance of normalcy, since AMLO's own partisans are disagreeing with his instructions, and desires to set up an obstructionist shadow government, but Nancy Cárdenas seems to be recanting part of what she said under PRD pressure.

This means we will still have to take precautions in Mexico City for the usual security issues - pirate taxis, thefts, dangerous areas (especially at night,) etc. of course, but it may be a harbinger of a reduction of some of the other tensions brought about by the AMLO-PRD standoff. And do expect demonstrations, possibly massive ones, December 1 downtown Mexico City.

In Oaxaca, however, tensions seem to be deepening and things may get decidedly worse. I would strongly suggest avoiding the city of Oaxaca until the strife there is over; if the army or Federal police are sent to break the barricades, there may be considerable violence.

JDiver

Mexico City seems quite safe - well, as safe as ever - right now, and things have calmed down. The PRD Presidential candidate has lots a lot of impetus and even local support, particularly since the PRD lost the gubernatorial race in Tabasco, Mr. Lopez Obrador's home state, by ten percentage points. (This means AMLO appears to have lost "his" state, from which he would be able to garner financial and political support for his proposed shadow government to counter the elected one.)

I would expect demonstrations when President Vicente Fox leaves office and turns over the reins of government to his elected successor, Felipe Calderon. Demonstrations before then would be possible if a debacle follows the October 27 deployment of Federal police to Oaxaca to quell the demonstrators and clear the barricades.

More on the Oaxaca situation

JDiver

The San Francisco Chronicle reports today, November 6 2006, in part:

"Homemade bombs exploded early Monday at the Federal Electoral Tribunal, a bank branch and the headquarters of the former ruling party in the country's capital, causing no injuries but rattling nerves in a country wracked by protests since a contested presidential vote.

A coalition of resistance groups claimed responsibility, but officials said it still wasn't clear who carried out the blasts.

The explosions shortly after midnight damaged an auditorium at the headquarters of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, a branch of Canadian-owned Scotiabank, the Federal Electoral Tribunal, and businesses and residences near the court.

Police deactivated two other bombs, one at a second Scotiabank near the court and another outside a Sanborns restaurant, a chain owned by billionaire Carlos Slim, near the PRI headquarters, said Mexico City Public Safety Secretary Joel Ortega."

It is difficult to say whether this is a one-time thing or not, but sources in Mexico City's governing PRD party say that the bombs went of within a short period of time and were coordinated, and were set off at a time to cause property damage but not major casualties.

Be aware - a new possibility exists in Mexico City of bombings to protest the upcoming Presidential inauguration December 1.

JDiver

The bombings apparently stopped when the bombers realized they were not going to foment the next revolution and had in fact earned much anger, rather than support, from the average Mexican.

Mexico City is currently calm, but December 1 the PRD party as represented by Andrés Manuel López Obrador ("AMLO,") the losing presidential candidate who declared himself "legitimate president of Mexico" at a public ceremony attended by about 100,000 at the Zócalo, has vowed to establish a "shadow government" that will have the declared intent of paralyzing the elected government of PAN's Felipe Calderón Hinojosa at every turn. Even though much of the PRD's respresentation in the legislature has disavowed violence or even disruption, significant sectors of the PRD and its consitutency will attempt to endure and be disruptive of the "other" government - one may expect occasional local disruptions of services and demonstrations, which I would avoid.

Calderón takes the presidency and dons the sash of office December 1, and AMLO has urged Mexicans to protest and prevent a peaceful passing of the presidency from Fox to Calderón. This might be a very good day to avoid downtown, just in case.

Duhey2

Thanks for the updates JDiver.

My wife and I took our daughter to Guadalajara for Thanksgiving and had a great time. We did have a comfort zone mostly around our hotel and the plazas in the Centro Historico and at all times we saw other families with small children so that gave us some sense of security (this wasn't three in the morning either). There was quite a police presence too.