IN THE MIDDLE
By Rick M. Garvey
Hi y’all…!
…wait, that hello actually doesn’t seem quite right, although I’ve lived for years down south, (yeah, down south of the border… here in Mexico), my upbringing is closer to the U.S. Midwest, so it just doesn’t fit in… anyway the idea here, is to have an editorial space in a web page that tries to bring into one, Mexican, American and World news, for readers mainly in San Luis Potosi, but from many other countries.
Truth is, while Spanish is a very interesting language, in the last years, the city of San Luis Potosi has attracted several foreign companies, mainly from the US, but also quite a few from Japan, China, Korea, Germany, UK, Sweden, Italy and God knows from where else… that being the case, English is the ‘lingua franca’, since, while many of us have made an effort to understand and be able to communicate in Spanish, most still have English as a very definite first or second language.
Notigrupo was the first media company in the city, to realize the definite need for news in English; obviously, most of us browse our countries news web pages, but having a selection of the most important developments worldwide, helps us by making it easier and lots more efficient… understandably, we won’t see much from, for example, Billings “Last Best News”, but if something shocking or very relevant comes up in Montana, most major networks will pick it up. Also, NotiGrupo’s editorial team is gearing up to have at least the most important local news also in English… yes a couple of newspapers are making an effort, but one of them has awful translators (huge turnoff); and the other just seems to publish in paper, and forgets that most of us catch our info from the web… in our phones… and that we definitely like our sports!!!
All that being said, lets start the political and economical analysis, which we hope will be the hallmark of this editorial…
As mentioned, this city’s huge and fast growth, owes its dynamics to many major companies setting up plants in the region, from the southern valley of Villa de Reyes, to the different industrial parks along Federal Highway 57 (Mexico’s most important highway); being smack IN THE MIDDLE of the country and obviously, the tax advantages given by the local Government.
Talking of which, do you know the structure and names of the local officials? Mexico is a Federal Republic, with a Federal government, headed by a President (Enrique Peña Nieto), with departments called Secretariats, headed in turn by officials called Secretaries; each department has representatives in the 31 States which conform the federation, called delegates. The Federal Congress is divided into two houses, Chamber of Deputies and the Senate; San Luis Potosí has eight Federal Deputies and three Senators.
At a regional level, the country is divided into States, with an elected Governor in charge; here in SLP (the abbreviation of the state), the Governor is Juan Manuel Carreras López; here there’s also a government structure set up by Secretariats or Departments, headed by Secretaries. The Secretary for Economic Development, who oversees and helps the setting up and operation of industrial plants and companies within the state, is called Gustavo Puente. There’s also a State Congress, with 27 Deputies.
The city level is called “Municipio”, the municipality, which is in charge of providing services and maintenance: public lighting, police of a preventive kind; water (through an independent government office called “Interapas”; garbage collection (which is outsourced to a private company); street paving and maintenance; comercial regulations (signs, commercial licences). The Municipio is governed by a city council called Ayuntamiento, headed by a “Municipal President” (Mayor) and also formed by two legal representatives called “Síndicos” and the councilmen called “Regidores”; here in San Luis Potosi city, the current mayor is Ricardo Gallardo Juarez.
That is a very general overview of the government structure in Mexico, but it is useful to at least have an idea, of where we stand. Another confusing thing here, is the different police corporations, Federal, State and Municipal police, all of a preventive kind. and an investigation police, which have different functions… for example, local road police are called “Policía Vial” and are part of the Municipal police.
Anyway, if you are an expat and are looking for an English language media source, you’re welcome to read us. This column will be published, hopefully, every Friday; and NotiGrupo publishes an English language news summary and an English language sports summary, daily… look it up, you’ll like it!
