Opening Mexico: The Making of a Democracy

by Julia Preston, Samuel Dillon

The Story of Mexico's political rebirth, by two pulitzer prize-winning reporters Opening Mexico is a narrative history of the citizens' movement which dismantled the kleptocratic one-party state that dominated Mexico in the twentieth century, and replaced it with a lively democracy. Told through the stories of Mexicans who helped make the transformation, the book gives new and gripping behind-the-scenes accounts of major episodes in Mexico's recent politics. Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party, led by presidents who ruled like Mesoamerican monarchs, came to be called "the perfect dictatorship." But a 1968 massacre of student protesters by government snipers ignited the desire for democratic change in a generation of Mexicans. Opening Mexico recounts the democratic revolution that unfolded over the following three decades. It portrays clean-vote crusaders, labor organizers, human rights monitors, investigative journalists, Indian guerrillas, and dissident political leaders, such as President Ernesto Zedillo-Mexico's Gorbachev. It traces the rise of Vicente Fox, who toppled the authoritarian system in a peaceful election in July 2000. Opening Mexcio dramatizes how Mexican politics works in smoke-filled rooms, and profiles many leaders of the country's elite. It is the best book to date about the modern history of the United States' southern neighbor-and is a tale rich in implications for the spread of democracy worldwide.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Latin American, Political Science

608 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2004

Reviews

[Czarny Pies · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Opening Mexico" has bumpy stretches in the first hundred pages where the author attempts to provide a historical context for movement to democratize Mexico which the author feels began in the 1960s. Once the narrative arrives at the 1968 student riots that preceded the summer Olympics the book dramatically improves. It improves even more in the 1990s the period during which the author was resident in Mexico. "Opening Mexico" is a book that gets steadily better as it goes along. Do not get discouraged.
"Opening Mexico" is perfectly suited to someone like myself who has according to the tabulation in my Goodreads database read the grand total of six books on Mexican history over a fifty year period. It provides the details behind all the stories about Mexico that have made headlines in the Anglo Saxon world since 1960 in a format that can be understood by someone with no background knowledge on the country. "Opening Mexico" clearly merits four stars. It may indeed merit five but I do not know enough about the topic to be absolutely sure that it merits the top rating.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book. It's a pretty technical and in-depth look at the various forces that led to the PRI being ousted from its 72-year reign in Mexico in the 2000 elections. It shows a lot of different angles and discusses how different social, political, economic, and cultural factors came together to demand change and lead to a peaceful transfer of power.

But it was most interesting because I lived in Mexico from 1993-2000, and was in the capital of Guanajuato state when Vicente Fox (the governor of Guanajuato) won the election. I remember bits and pieces of this happening from my teenage years, but it's so nice to know the full story of why things happened the way they did. Furthermore, since I attended a private school, I was acquainted with several of the influential families in the PRI, and so it was almost trippy to hear about people's parents and grandparents and how they figured in to the dynamic.

This book is also interesting because it was published in 2004 - four years into Vicente Fox's regime, and two years before Felipe Calderon took office and really cracked down on the drug cartels and organized crime within Mexico, which spurred a bloodbath that continues to this day. The book has such a hopeful tone for the prospect of peace and democracy and the gradual decrease of crime and increase of economic stability, and while some of that is happening, it is definitely interesting to read with the benefit of hindsight.

Overall, a very well-written and in-depth detailing of a fascinating period in North American history.

[Josiah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I fear I am too limited in my tastes.

I initially avoided reading this book because it didn't fit with my preference for things that somehow directly influence the world that I live in. History of of American, Western, Europe, Religion and the like.

However, I was quickly drug into the epic human drama by the painful, tragic, but darkly fascinating events of the Tlatelolco massacre in 1968. From then on, as the tale of good and evil, corruption and vice, power and dissent unfolded, I realized the book was teaching me more about the political process and pathway towards positive change than anything I have read before. In much the same way learning a new language teaches you as much about your own language, so too does this book teach about any democratic struggle while ostensibly telling the tale of Mexico's painful evolution toward democracy.

I feel like I understand the whole world just that much better now.

[Aaron Million · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in the early 2000s by two New York Times reporters (Julia Preston and Sam Dillon) who had extensive experience in Mexico, this book examines the slow, slow climb into democracy that Mexico took. The authors primarily focus on the 1980s and 90s, and the first few years of this century. They begin with the 2000 presidential election of Vicente Fox - the first non-PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) President in the country's history. Fox was the candidate of the rival PAN (National Action Party) party, a party that had known only limited success in local elections up to that time. The election of Fox was Mexico's first peaceful transition of power from one political party to another.

Preston and Dillon then go way to revolutionary times and discuss Benito Juarez for a moment before moving onto the bloody decades of the 1910s and 1920s, where there was a succession of dictators who tried to kill each other off, and often succeeded. They then quickly move to the chaos in 1968 Mexico City, involving student protests and the Summer Olympics. President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz initiated a brutal crackdown on mainly peaceful student protesters. Unfortunately, jumping around time periods so quickly like this led to some confusion for me as a slew of names was thrown forward in each time period, making it difficult to remember who was who. Also, while the authors did review how the PRI started, it seemed rushed. I think they would have benefited by a more thorough discussion of the beginnings of the party and the forces that brought it to fruition.

Fortunately, once they get on more comfortable territory, the narrative smooths out and their knowledge of recent Mexican history becomes apparent. They examine different facets of Mexican life: politics, drug-related violence, kidnapping, the changing economy, arts and literature. They also review, at length, print media. This seemed to go on a bit too much for me; I think it was more that they were reporters and wanted to write about newspapers. They did discuss the two major television networks, but not to the extent that they wrote about the various periodicals that were popping up. And they devoted a whopping one sentence to discussing Mexican radio.

They do a good job of reviewing the presidencies of Carlos Salinas, Miguel de la Madrid, and Ernesto Zedillo. Much of this was focused on how those presidents resisted democratic reform and used the PRI to dominate ordinary Mexicans. By the time of Zedillo's presidency (1994-2000), Mexicans were making serious pushes towards reforms (one example: combating kidnapping and making the government at least try to look for missing persons). The authors play it pretty straight on Zedillo: neither showing him to be a reformer and beneficent leader nor an authoritarian ruler in the mold of Diaz Ordaz. They end by returning the Fox's election and examining the first half of his presidency, which they clearly were not impressed with.

Interspersed throughout the book are brief first-person narratives from one or the other about interviews they conducted or assignments they were working on that helps give the reader an understanding as to why that particular topic was being discussed. These are occasional, and if anything help bring a personal perspective to their reporting. This was a very good primer on Mexico from about 1985 (there was a chapter devoted to the devastating Mexico City earthquake of that year) to 2000, especially where the partial degradation of the PRI is concerned. Unfortunately, as a history book, it falls a bit short.

Grade: C+

[Javier Cadena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Librazo. Un must.
Difícilmente veo que otro libro retrate tan bien el reciente camino recorrido hacia la democracia en MX (muy brevemente podría ser 'Cartas a una joven desencantada con la democracia', de Woldenberg), con un punto de vista mas objetivo y con tantos datos relevantes sin caer en excesos de nombres/fechas o datos tediosos.

[John Crippen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very readable (except for the Notes, see below) and interesting account of how Mexico transitioned from "a perfect dictatorship to an imperfect democracy" at the end of seventy years of single-party rule. Although the Epilogue includes observations through 2004, the climax of the book is the election of President Vicente Fox in 2000.

One thirty-page chapter covers from the time of Aztec rule to 1968, so you'll need another book or two for that period, but this is a great single-volume read for 1968-2000. In describing how Mexico opened up to true democracy, the authors cover not just political machinations but also the media, drug cartels, corruption, the armed forces, labor unions and the intelligentsia. You'll learn a lot.

As a reader, I think the book could have used one more read-through by an editor (sorry, Pulitzer Prize-winning authors!) and I wish (like I always do in these cases) that references to the Notes at the end of the book had been super-scripted in the main text (You have to keep flipping back to see if there are notes instead of flipping back to look up a particular note you know is there...grrrr.).

That said, if you're curious about how Mexico finally elected a President from a different political party after 70 years and about all the other changes in the country associated with that election, you should enjoy this title.

[David Gross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Opening Mexico does a great job of giving a one-book overview of the enormous changes in the Mexican political system in the last fifty years or so and how they came about. Mexico transformed from an impregnable, one-party, totalitarian state that controlled nearly every aspect of public life into a thriving, multi-party republic in a process that was difficult but relatively (though certainly not entirely) bloodless. It is fascinating to read about the combination of grassroots struggle and top-down glasnost-like reform that brought this off.

It’s surprising to me how little of this story has become part of the political dialog in the United States — compared to things like the fall of the Berlin Wall, Yeltsin standing on a tank, the Tienanmien massacre, glasnost & perestroika, how many aspects of this Mexican revolution have become commonplace parts of the discussion here?

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes, I now know a lot more about democracy in Mexico than I used to.

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

an excellent book for someone like me who had a sketchy notion of mexican politics but wanted more.

ny times writer julia preston starts with the july 2000 election, when the pri party was voted out after 70 years of dominating the mexican body politic by pan candidate vicente fox. in chapter two, she offers an overview of how mexico established political structures from cortez to the caudillo period (caudillo: individuals akin to japanese warlords, who owned large areas of land and established rule and order with brutality).

in the chapters that follow, preston offers in greater detail the acts that led to the revolution of 1911 and the drafting of the constitution in 1917. from there, the pri party was established, and through a brand of democracy that functioned more like a monarchy, the presidents, who served six year terms, would nominate their successor. "voting" was ushered in to give the illusion of democracy, but elections were notorious frauds, until things began to change in the wake of the student uprising of 1968. the 1985 earthquake, which demolished many government structures (schools, hospitals and government housing) uncovered mass corruption and acted as a catalyst for political change, leading to the aforementioned 2000 election and beyond.

strongly recommended for anyone interested in mexican politics and the country's rich history. at times this book reads like a suspense novel complete with political intrigue, murder, massive cover ups, and a glimpse of how the citizens of mexico slowly chipped away at despotism to achieve an imperfect but functioning democracy. think south of the border tinker tailor soldier spy with a shades of a happy ending.

[Nick Rabkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Riveting history of Mexico, largely focused on the remarkable decline of the power of the PRI and the "opening" of Mexico to a more democratic and dynamic political framework. But book has a fundamental shortcoming: It looks at Mexico primarily from the top down, concentrating on how democratic forces in the country's business and political elites changed the balance of power. While it does give credit to the student and the Zapatista movements as vital forces in Mexico's democratization, it fails to balance its perspective by looking more carefully at other social and cultural forces at work. Nonetheless, it served me well as a sure-handed introduction to Mexico's complex political dynamics, whetting my appetite to learn more.

[Calley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent historical accounting of the political development of Mexico in the 20th century, along with the major events and personalities that gradually built a more democratic system. Fascinating and an easy read.

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Authors: Julia Preston and Samuel Dillon
2004

A good read if a little dated. Useful for background on our immigration issues.

[Liam · Rating 4 out of 5]

"poca politica, mucha adminstracion" (quoting Porfirio Diaz, 45)

"The symbol of this irreverent new politics [post-earthquake] was Superbarrio, a masked figure in a spangled red costume and cape, a hybrid between Superman and a show wrestler." (114)

"The DFS [federal security directorate] had stumbled into the drug business almost by accident. In 1976, after a leftist rebel group kidnapped his sister, President-elect Jose Lopez Portillo had given the DFS the authority to wipe out the insurgents by any means necessary. ... During raids on narcotics warehouses thought to be guerrilla safe houses, they came into contact with drug traffickers, and soon they were protecting them from arrest in exchange for a healthy cut of their profits." (328)

"In time, Mexico's long-suffering people grew outraged. For nearly two decades, pollsters had consistently found the average citizen's main concern to be Mexico's troubled economy; by 1998 'public insecurity' had become the country's number one worry. ... Behind much of the public irritation were abuses associated with the constitutional writ known as the amparo, the procedure by which Mexicans appeal sentences, file habeas corpus petitions, seek injunctions, and contest the constitutionality of laws. Anyone targeted with a criminal investigation could, if sufficiently wealthy to muster the legal fees, file an amparo suit requesting a federal judge to shield him or her from arrest." (387-8)

"Not since Emiliano Zapata had the Mexican Left had a more appealing figure than Subcommandante Marcos. ... Many of his writings were framed as dialogues with a beetle he called Don Durito, Mr. Hardhead." (449)

[Julian Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Preston and Dillon tell the epic story of how the wheels came off Mexico's seemingly invulnerable PRI regime in the 1980s and 90s with insights and storytelling that largely, but not always match the grand scope of the narrative. The book is well-organized, with chapters focusing on different parts of the grand narrative: the 1968 Tlatelolco Massacre, the mechanisms by which the PRI internally transferred power, the peso crisis, the stolen election of 1988, the Zapatista uprising, etc. Most of these chapters, particularly those involving internal maneuvers within the PRI elite, are quite strong with vivid descriptions. Other topics, notably the Zapatistas, feel like the NYT journalist authors couldn't quite get a read on them. There's also certain moments where the authors accept the baseline assumptions of the neoliberal era uncritically, which hasn't aged well but also doesn't worth more than a derisive chuckle from the reader. All in all, a very solid introduction to an interesting topic and a story well-told.

[Harry Brake]

Wow. I have been accumulating and adding to my list of texts based on Mexico, this is DEFINITELY one of the best, most comprehensive, and thorough look at explaining SO MUCH. From the student protest and massacre, to the 1985 earthquake, to looking at Presidents from the very beginning up to Fox, to mounds of coverups and corruption, to the climb of becoming a democratic world representation, to the PAN, the PRI, and PRD, and that is just the BEGINNING - this is a GREAT work from two American correspondents, Julia Preston and Samuel Dillon.

The perspective is dead one, brilliant and insightful while laying the groundwork for cultural reflections. Winning the Pulizter Prize for this was no surprise, and this is an ESSENTIAL addition to any collection on Mexico. A true prize and although it took me a forever period to work through this, worth every single minute!

[Larissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wide-ranging survey of Mexico from the 1968 Tlatelolco massacre to Vicente Fox's historic victory in the 2000 presidential election. Both of the authors are reporters for the New York Times, and the book is an engaging and breezy overview of recent events. The central emphasis is on the gradual democratization of Mexican politics and civil society, with occasional detours for particularly outrageous episodes of corruption and scandal. This is a useful reference for modern Mexican history, which celebrates the achievements of activists and reformers even as it acknowledges the immense difficulties of creating and maintaining a national democracy.

[Peggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved reading this book--it introduced me to contemporary Mexican political history and it's fascinating. Written in journalistic prose, you'll meet the recent presidents of Mexico and learn all about the struggle for power among the parties. I remember visiting Mexico in 1977 or 78 and being surprised by a small rally of serious-looking young people carrying red flags in a small Saltillo plaza. Now I know that this was after the PRI allowed a bit more openness by other political parties. It's very cool to find a book that helps me make sense of an event that occurred so many years ago.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Political process in Mexico of moving from a sham democracy, where the PRI held all high political offices from the President to governors of all states for 70 years, to openning up Mexico to representative democracy and the painful details of that process. What it has been like between early 20th century under a benevolant dictator to democratic elections Mexico style. I have yet to finish the book as of mid April'08

[Chloe · Rating 3 out of 5]

i read this before i went abroad to mexico, which was an incredibly good decision. not many people in my program knew much about mexican history, so i felt really smart and culturally capable (for like 2 seconds).

if you ever plan on spending significant time in mexico, this is a great review of the last century.

[Marcelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written and interesting. Since it covers Mexican political history of the past 100 years, many people and various places are introduced. This probably prevents the book from being very gripping since you can't follow the career and life of any key figures.

[Alejandro Hernández · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want the behind the scenes look at recent Mexican history, you have found your book. Essential reading for anyone who grew up in 90s Mexico and remembers all the craziness of 94, all the way to the 2000s.

[John Brooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Essential reading for anyone interested in exploring Mexico, or considering resideing there. Clear, consise rational about the political and economic realities of the last 100 years of Mexico'a trurbulent history. Recommended hightly.

[Dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quality historical text.

[Steve Van Slyke · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book that takes the reader from the early days of the autocratic PRI to beginnings of true democracy beginning with the election of Vicente Fox of the PAN party.

[Polly Callahan · Rating 5 out of 5]

need to finish

[Frances · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very readable and entertaining history of Mexico in the 20th century.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's nice to read non-fiction from a journalist and the book focuses on modern Mexican history which is very interesting.

[Philip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredibly well written.