Tan Lejos de Dios; Tan Cercas de los Estados Unidos
"So Far from God; So Close to the United States" is the traditional Mexican lament. Presidential Canditate Andrés Manuel López Obrador may be aiming to bridge that divide, but in a very unpredicatable way, as noted by this article by Enrique Krauze, translated by the Grey Lady, Bringing Mexico Closer to God*, which begins thusly:

SHOULD Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the front-runner in Mexico's presidential race, emerge victorious on Sunday, it could usher in a form of Latin American leftism as yet unseen: messianic populism. Mexico's fragile democracy could become its first casualty.

Outside of Mexico, people ask which Latin American leader Mr. López Obrador most resembles: Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, Evo Morales of Bolivia or Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil. The truth is that he's not like any of them. He does not have the military stamp of Comandante Chávez or the indigenist roots of Mr. Morales. Nor is he a born compromiser like Mr. Lula who, as some Brazilians say, seems to "know the value of 10 percent." Mr. López Obrador is different: he always strives for 100 percent. And he has higher models to emulate.

The image is by one Sungyoon Choi, a Korean name if I ever heard one.

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