GUADALAJARA, Mexico — As part of GlobalPost's project to interview 100 people in 20 locations around the world about the 2012 US election, we asked Mexicans:
Who do you want to win the 2012 US election?
Will the election affect your country?
How has your view of the US changed since President Obama took office?
What should the next US president do?
- Country: Mexico
- Name: Alejandro Ramirez
- Occupation: Architect
- Age: 39
- I would vote for: Romney
My vote: “I would vote for Romney because Obama should have made more alliances with Mexico in the past four years. With the Republicans the Mexican economy does much better.”
The election's impact: “If Obama wins again he'd do nothing with Mexico. He'll still be thinking in a more national way. Romney would be more internationally focused. He'd try to look for new alliances with … [Mexican President Enrique] Pena Nieto … to fight the increasing [economic] threats from Asia and Europe. [The election] always has an effect. Nothing is isolated in a global economy.”
My view: “I don’t have a good opinion of the US' way of governing. Our government tried to curb [drug trafficking] and ended with this war, which has no meaning because [Americans] are still consuming drugs. They don’t really care about the Latin American people. But they should do more for us. Many of their labor hands are Latinos who've been breaking into other levels of the economy.”
Top priority: “The US has to move in an international direction because right now they are always thinking about national issues. Because of all the wars, they have lost part of their international strategy. The economies around the world are moving and changing, and they are not participating as they should be.”
- Country: Mexico
- Name: Bernardo De Niz
- Occupation: Photographer
- Age: 40
- I would vote for: Obama
My vote: “I’d vote for Barack Obama because first he is the best candidate and he has been trying to solve all the problems left from eight years of the Bush administration that caused all of today’s problems. And he is very committed and has high moral values. I believe in him.”
The election's impact: “Being the neighbor of the main global power would affect anyone. All the decisions made in the US affect not just Mexico but also the whole world.”
My view: “[My opinion has] improved since the moment Obama was elected. All the world's perceptions of the US changed with that because now they have a real leader who cares for human rights, who cares for peace, who cares for social justice.”
Top priority: “Change the way of doing things. In regards to the economy, the way it's designed is not working. The relationships between countries are not fair. But the main thing is the economy. They need to change the system to make it work for everybody, not just for a few.”
- Country: Mexico
- Name: Juan Herrera Trujillo
- Occupation: Cafe manager
- Age: 40
- I would vote for: Undecided.
My vote: “I don’t know too much about the candidates. As a Mexican in the US, I would look for the candidate who supports the immigrants.”
The election's impact: “It affects us but it depends on the politics between the two countries. If there's a bad relationship between the political parties, that will affect us very much. If the parties aren't in agreement, there will be fewer opportunities or commercial agreements.”
My view: “First it looked like [Obama] would do a lot of good things but slowly the same situation repeated itself. I saw schools [in the US] that had bilingual classes for immigrants' children, but two years later they were removed. Those changes were under the Obama administration and I don't agree with them. Initially it looked like he'd help Latino immigrants but it doesn't seem like. The changes went backwards.”
Top priority: “They should be trying to resolve the unemployment problem. Immigrant labor is very important to the US because it's cheap. Sometimes we Mexicans produce a lot for very little money. The next president should take this into account. Of course, he isn't the only one who makes decisions, but the point should be how to manage all those millions of immigrants that go to the US and produce a lot for so little.”
- Country: Mexico
- Name: Alicia Villasenor
- Occupation: Retired
- Age: 69
- I would vote for: Obama
My vote: "For Obama because in the US it's necessary to have at least two terms to be able to fulfill their goals. Four years is too little.”
The election's impact: "I don't think there is one. There's always been an open relationship between Mexico and the US. I think the Republicans are less sympathetic to Mexican policy.”
My view: “I think Obama faced a very hard task: end the war because it was draining the US economy. That stopped him from having enough resources to complete his projects, such as improving the economy, finishing the health care reforms, bringing home the soldiers and compensating the injured ones. That is going to cost a lot of money and right now the US has a lot of debts.”
Top priority: “I still think it is important to have continuity with projects such as social security, immigration and the economy because the economy is bad in Mexico and in the US and in the world.”
- Country: Mexico
- Name: Ana Paula Sandaval
- Occupation: University student
- Age: 20
- I would vote for: Obama
My vote: “I would vote for Barack Obama because all the time he has been in power he's been helping the Latinos with campaign promises that he made happen. Those are things that change people's lives. I think he's a man who's been trying to change and transform things.”
The election's impact: “The US is the main global power and these elections affect the whole world, especially Mexico because we're neighbors. There are a lot of Latinos, especially Mexicans, living there so any decisions the winning candidate makes will directly affect this community. I want the best for my compatriots.”
My view: “I think a change [from Bush] was necessary and it was a good option — they maintained their world legitimacy. It's giving all the different racial groups a chance. Now you can tell that all the different minority groups have more freedom and they're represented.”
Top priority: “They need to make a deep transformation of the economy because so far this system just benefits a few people and has left so many people poor. It's like in Europe where the system's collapsing. And they need to look for peace because we're in a very unstable time. The relationship between the US and the Middle East is very weak and there is the danger of a new war starting.”
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