Austinites Weigh In On Mexican Presidential Election
By Sam Ellison and Mary Mattia
Mexicans will elect a new president on Sunday, and many Austinites with ties to Mexico are wondering what, if anything, will change for them.
Mexican citizen and restaurant manager Ides Velasquez has decided she won’t even vote.
“Nothing besides the president is going to change because it will be the same government,” Velasquez said in Spanish.
All three leading candidates have promised to end drug cartel violence by trying to demilitarize the conflict and focusing on policing efforts. Professor Nestor Rodriguez at the University of Texas Center for Mexican-American Studies believes that could affect migrant communities in Texas.
“This will hopefully lessen the danger that migrants face in two ways,” Rodriquez said, “when they are coming toward the U.S. and they are apprehended by criminals, and also when they are deported, which is happening in very large numbers in Mexican border towns, some of which are visited frequently by violent groups.”
The new Mexican president will take office Dec. 1.
