Mexico. National flag hoisted at half-mast in mourning. Photo taken by the author
At the end of 2012, Enrique Peña Nieto became president of Mexico, nominated by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), after 12 years of governance by the opposition right-wing National Action Party (PAN). Peña’s assumption of the presidency was praised by international public opinion: The Economist published an article entitled Mexico's Moment that continued to be referenced for months, and in January 2014 The Guardian asked whether Mexico’s moment had finally arrived.
Peña Nieto’s cabinet has been releasing statistics showing lower crime rates and economic stability. The president’s wife appears in glamour magazines, showcasing the kind of lifestyle many Mexicans aspire to, that is, one of luxury and comfort, untouched by austerity, poverty, and violence. Public money is spent on advertising praising the regime and other frivolities, as Twitter user Epigmenio Ibarra noted:
