Historical rail travel in US and Mexico question

[Devil's Advocate]

Under pressure from the United States and other creditors to cut spending and raise cash, Mexico is planning a garage sale. The idea is to unload Government-owned enterprises, from airports and communications satellites to the entire Mexican railroad system...

"There's a bit of a naive view of privatization that says just give the properties to private owners and that's enough," said a senior Government official who spoke on the condition that he not be identified. "It's naive but it's pretty effective. And the pressure for that kind of thing to continue is very strong."

https://www.nytimes.com/1995/06/02/...rage-sale-third-round-privatization-will.html

 

[Ziv]

I can't answer your question except to say that Mexico was in total chaos with Banditos, Self appointed Generals ( Villa,Zapata etc) with "Armies", Soldiers of Fortune and Foriegn Provocateurs seeking Influence and Wealth and jockeying to overthrow the Government, so I'd venture to say that there was no printed Time Table so as to not have the Train Robbed or Highjacked by the various " Armies".

Most of the Businesses were Foriegn owned ( remember the Railroads were mostly foriegn owned, most by US Roads)and Corruption was rampant in the Country with No-one in charge for several years.

This went on for over a decade till Strongmen Dictators killed Villa,Zapata and several other "Leaders" and the PRI ( the Party of the Mexican Revolution) took control of the Country for over 8 decades till the Corruption and the Cartels once again threw Mexico back into Chaos.

I have a friend that lived in Mexico for years. Her husband was with the World Bank and they knew people. When the PRI got voted out she went to an Alliance for Change party where at one point the ladies sat in one room and the men in another. She was seated with 3 of her friends and 2 women she did not know. The wine flowed and everyone seemed to be having a good time but one woman just burst out, "You do not understand, this election! It means we all are going to be very, very rich!!!"
My friend laughed but her friends apparently thought it was gauche to speak the truth in front of the wife of a guy that worked for the World Bank at the time.
Mexico, the perfect dictatorship. Until it wasn't.

 

[joelkfla]

You could read The Old Patagonian Express by Paul Theroux. This is an account of a trip he took from Boston to Patagonia in the late 1970s. After riding Amtrak from Boston to Laredo, he crossed the river and then rode through Mexico to Veracruz, and then continued farther into Central and South America, mostly by train.

I've been trying to read this, but having a hard time with it. Theroux is just so darn negative, denigrating everything he sees and everyone he meets with a holier than thou attitude. Are all his books that way?

It just doesn't leave me feeling good after reading a bit, nor feeling eager to pick it up again.

 

[BlackDiamond]

I've been trying to read this, but having a hard time with it. Theroux is just so darn negative, denigrating everything he sees and everyone he meets with a holier than thou attitude. Are all his books that way?

It just doesn't leave me feeling good after reading a bit, nor feeling eager to pick it up again.

If you think that book is negative, try his one on Africa. But he does call it as it is and doesn't sugar coat anything