Rock (the Vote) en Espanol

“When SaÚl Hernández, singer of the Mexican alternative-rock band Los Jaguares, digs deep into his patriotic soul for the words to “Esta Muy Claro” (It’s Very Clear), the sadness of his sentiments””“In my country, the system has lost itself / Lost its beliefs, its autonomy / Lost its peace”””is almost too much to bear. It’s a quiet song about a country that long ago turned its back on its most vulnerable citizens, a country born of a revolution nearly a century ago that was supposed to usher in a new era of liberty and social justice. Today, Hernández sings of Mexico’s “cult of failure,” ending his lament with the repeated words, “It’s very clear that this government is not for me.”

Sound familiar? We in the United States would do well to watch what happens when Hernández and his fellow Mexicans go to the polls on July 2. From the looks of recent election results in Latin America, the region is moving leftward again after about a decade of flirting with U.S.-style free-market democracy and economic reform.”

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