other
Voices of Mexico
Registro en:
0186-9418
VOM_1996_0035
CONACYT
Autor
Velasco Montante, Astrid
Bugeda Bernal, Diego Ignacio
Montiel Ziegler, Elsie
Creamer, Cynthia
Gutiérrez, Fernando
Ocampo, Consuelo
Dashner Monk, Heather
García Ascot, Soren
Márquez Padilla, Paz Consuelo
Ediciones del Equilibrista
Offset Rebosán
Villareal Carrillo, Pilar
Institución
Resumen
October"s meeting in Washington between presidents Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico and Bill Clinton of the United States was an undoubted success. A team spirit characterized the speeches and meetings, talks with political and economic leaders, as well as those invited to the ceremonies and perceptions on the part of the mass media. This is one more demonstration of the fact that relations between our two countries have reached a level of maturity beneficial to both. We have learned to be friends, both in times of euphoria and during periods of redefinition. In Mexico and the United States, we finally recognize our differences while respecting the grandeur of our identities. We know that the world has entered an era of globalization, when it behooves us to find mutual windows of opportunity at the same time as we understand, and are prepared to discuss, our disagreements. There is a consciousness that the problems confronting us today go beyond borders and therefore demand a search for joint solutions. Drug trafficking, migration, human rights and ecology are issues that require broad vision and the willingness of nations" leaders to cooperate, to listen to each other, to create a new consensus. Above and beyond the origins of these problems, only conceptions formulated by leaders of great vision can lead to strategies which demand teamwork in order to provide solutions. We have gone from the stage of assigning blame to the level of perceiving the urgency of beginning to imagine long-term bilateral solutions. Miguel Mancera writes about the key role played by Manuel Gómez Morin in founding the Banco de México in 1925, during the era when Alberto Pani headed the Secretariat of the Treasury. The Banco de México, Mancera tells us, is a financial institution which was fundamental in backing a single form of currency after the uncertainties of the post-Revolution era. Ambassador José Juan de Olloqui stresses the need to diversify our markets towards the Pacific Rim. In his opinion, we should not seek conflicts with our neighbors to the north, but should try to consolidate significant trade relations in new markets. In his essay, Emilio Coral invites us to admire the five "Turriana medallions," 18th-century allegorical paintings whose themes allude to history, archeology, hydraulics, navigation and music. Their pictorial majesty currently graces the National Library, which is part of our country"s highest educational institution some countries have to exploit their limited arts and crafts in order to attract tourism. In contrast, Mexico displays a wealth of arts and crafts admired around the world, which has translated into a renewal of that which is profoundly Mexican. Nevertheless, Romero Giordano warns us of the danger that our ethnographic legacy may disappear. He shows how the nation"s textile art, which continues to use natural dyes of great beauty, has been admired since the arrival of the first Spaniards. However, mate garments have almost ceased to exist, while those for women increasingly tend to disappear. In the article on Frida Kahlo, Martínez Zalce tells us about the painter"s Diario íntimo (Intimate Diary). He invites us to enter the writings and images of a unique woman who was a mixture of genius, passion and suffering. The doors of the National Archive at Lecumberri are opened to us by the archive Director, Patricia Galeana .She mentions some of the invaluable documents safeguarded there, among them Hernán Cortés ":Judgement of Residence” (1526).