Last night, the News Hour on PBS broadcast a piece on the political situation in Mexico City (not pretty). The broadcast described the demographics of the city - 20+ million inhabitants, small wealthy class vis a vis vast slum areas, traffic problems, pollution, official graft, etc.. With Latin America so far behind the curve on Y2K preparations, I have this really sinking feeling about what is going to happen to the residents of this teeming metropolis as the millennium roll-over occurs. It's too bad the fate of our friends south of the border has not gotten more attention in this forum. They are after all one of most significant tranding partners, and many family members of Mexican nationals call the USA home.

-- Brian E. Smith (besmith@mail.arc.nasa.gov), January 13, 1999

Answers

Your so right Brian

Much of what will happen to the USA is largely based on the outcomes of our international partners, to the North, South, East, and West. Not only does America rely on these countires for our own well being, we have set the standard for growth and industrialization for many. I hope that our self righteousness can be over come before we see the rest of the world crashing and sinking as we cling onto the last remnants fo floating debris in an ocean of tragedy.

-- Adam (Y2KSrvivor@aol.com), January 13, 1999.

Mexico City has 15 million ppl at direct risk of obliteration from the nearby volcano Popocatepetl, which has started erupting again.

xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx

-- Leska (allaha@earthlink.net), January 13, 1999.

Leska... great point! I expect a lot more volcanic activity this year.

But, Mexico can blow up even without a volcano erupting. Mexico does have a the large division between the rich and the very, very poor. NAFTA actually takes advantage of the poor, working class in an effort to "raise their standard of living" and we get cheap labor and lower prices. But Mexico is a civil war time bomb who's fuse has already been lit.

There is fighting now in the south which is spreading and gaining momentum and people don't realize that Mexico isn't really a democracy. Power is maintained by only a few families and elections are a smokescreen to hide the graft, corruption and the way power is kept in a very small circle.

We rely so heavily on the rest of the world to produce goods for our import or purchase our export goods and manufacture products for American corporations to sell here and abroad. People seem to be so blind to just how much we (the U.S.) are interconnected to the entire world.

Thanks for the post Brian.

Mike =========================================================

-- Michael Taylor (mtdesign3@aol.com), January 13, 1999.

Does anyone have any insight into the Y2K preparedness level of Guadelejara, Mexico? or a source for information?

-- Jen White (jenwhite@compuserve.com), January 13, 1999.

Mexico City is the epitome of what happens when people breed like uncontrolled rabbits.

There's almost as many people in Cuidad Mexico (20 million) as in ALL of Canada (about 30 million)

-- a (a@weararubber.com), January 13, 1999.

Saw that too on PBS, Brian. Not good.

Heres the PBS transcript:

TAMING MEXICO CITY, January 12, 1999

Mexico City's first elected mayor, Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, came to office with much fanfare a year ago. But a widespread increase in crime has undermined his popularity. Charles Krause reports on Cardenas' attempts to bring law and order to Mexico City ...

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/latin_america/jan- june99/mexico_1-12.html

Maybe some of the spanish speaking sites on Ed Yourdons links and resources web-page would lead you to that information, Jen.

http://www.yourdon.com/

Also the Miami Herald has a spanish speaking community newspaper, forget the name. Try searching through these media source links:

http://www.mediainfo.com/ emedia

http://www.newslink.org/

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), January 13, 1999.

One thing to keep in mind about Mexico and the vast majority of its inhabitants: They already live in circumstances approaching what we would have here in the event of meltdown. Cardboard and tar paper shacks, wood fires for cooking and heating, etc. They probably could cope better than most of us. They're used to it.

-- Vic (Roadrunneris@compliant.net), January 13, 1999.

Vic-

Great point! That is my position too. We are constantly being told that "we" are way ahead of the world, etc. but quite a bit of the rest of the world is used to disruption in telecom service, power, oil and gas supply, etc.

As a nation I worry about how we will cope with simple disruptions let alone major disruptions lasting a month or more. The only possible solution is to build better, closer communities.

Mike ===============================================================

-- Michael Taylor (mtdesign3@aol.com), January 13, 1999.

Speaking of Mexico, do you wonder with all the illegal immigrants that have booked their AAA trips to within our borders in previous years that perhaps we may see a great influx of new "tourists" coming across the border should the computer crash and our guards go home to defend their family's? Mr. Case

-- Mr. & Mrs Just N. Case (doesnotmatter@thistime.com), January 13, 1999.

Just -

wetbacks aren't going to be a major immediate threat outside of the southern border areas - the vast majority of illegal immigrant labor is smuggled into this country by various professional groups and entrepreneurs...the majority of which are entirely based around using modern forms of transportation along high speed transportation corridors (I-5, and I-10 come to mind off the top of my head). Any bets on how long the I-5 and I-405 will remain passable once things start to go seriously wrong with the utilities? How about I-10 and I- 20? There's a whole LOT of desert out there, and it's no more fun in the winter than it is in the summer...

Arlin [who used to live in *very* southern Arizona]

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), January 14, 1999.