Bordering on Chaos: Guerrillas, Stockbrokers, Politicians, and Mexico's Road to Prosperity (review)

Few countries can claim to have fallen as quickly into a chasm of unpredictability and chaos as Mexico. Guerrilla insurrection, political assassinations, and financial disaster are just a few of the problems that have plagued this star-crossed country of late. In Bordering on Chaos, Andres Oppenheimer, Latin American correspondent for the Miami Herald, does much to put these events into perspective. Relying upon keen insight and access to billionaire businessmen and top government officials, Oppenheimer interprets the rhetoric and myths that, as he explains, make Mexico one of the most difficult countries to understand. Brilliant journalistic analyses of issues, such as the 1994 peso crisis, and flamboyant characters, such as ex-president Carlos Salinas de Gotari and Zapatista leader Subcomandante Marcos, make this a fascinating book for Mexico watchers and anyone else interested in events south of the border.

In this attempt to make sense of contemporary Mexico, Oppenheimer weaves together several dramatic themes. He begins with an analysis of Mexico’s privileged class. Oppenheimer compares Mexico’s chameleon-like ruling elite to Plato’s cave: “You only saw the shadows and you never knew which shadow belonged to whom.” This notion of ambiguity pervades the book, and draws the reader into the ÔMexican’ way of doing things. Once this multifaceted nature of the Mexican psyche is understood, Oppenheimer suggests that economic crises, Indian insurrections, and rampant corruption take on a logic of their own.

A second theme, and the one on which Oppenheimer is most insightful, is the emergence in 1994 of the Zapatista movement, which shocked not just Mexico’s political elite but the entire world. From the first day of their uprising—the very day NAFTA went into effect—the Zapatistas became the darlings of the international media and a favorite of the “radical chic” cause taken up by the likes of Oliver Stone and Danielle Mitterand. Oppenheimer is not fooled by this naive fascination, and reports the Zapatistas as they are: indigenous guerrillas and sympathizers, led by erstwhile urban, middle-class, Marxist intellectuals. Thus, while never doubting the sincerity of the Indians’ cause or discounting the endemic poverty and exploitation that they have endured, Oppenheimer exposes some of the contradictions and hypocrisies of their charismatic leader, Subcomandante Marcos.

In one particularly humorous example, Oppenheimer spends days trekking through the Chiapas jungle in search of that greatly sought-after interview with Marcos. By the time he arrives at Marcos’ secret hide-out, Oppenheimer’s clothes are caked in dirt, while Marcos, who has ostensibly adopted all of the characteristics and habits of the Indians he champions, emerges in a perfectly-ironed, white dress shirt.

During Oppenheimer’s interview with Marcos, he is startled when Marcos shifts the conversation away from politics to other topics, such as how much he misses fine chocolate and the urbane life of Mexico City. Oppenheimer entered the jungle assuming that Marcos would rail against the capitalist oppressors, who were exploiting the indigenous peoples. He was hardly prepared to hear that, instead of class warfare, Marcos wanted to talk about candy and bohemian cafes. Again, the reader sees how Mexico’s elite present one image, while all the time acting out another. Obviously, this dual character is not unique to Mexico. Yet, as Oppenheimer vividly shows, in Mexico it assumes a sense of surrealism which borders on the absurd.

The 1994 presidential election, which ended in victory for Ernesto Zedillo of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), is yet another instance where Mexico’s unique political and social dynamics came into play. Oppenheimer’s claim is that, while the election itself was essentially clean, the electoral process was so biased and corrupt that it made the actual voting process a farce.

He cites the tremendous influence that Televisa, a virtual television monopoly with historic ties to the PRI, had in the months preceding the election. For instance, the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) and the National Action Party...