Diaz was willing to give up his presidency, but apparently not to Madero. Diaz imprisoned Madero on election day. Madero broke out and escaped to Texas, where he published his “Letter From Jail” — a manifesto for suffrage and term limits.

In this letter, the hint of agrarian reform and socioeconomic changes was enough to start the Mexican Revolution and seat him as the new president in 1911. While his presidency was a failure, his principles lived on.

After a bloody revolution from 1910- 1921, Mexico started implementing many of Madero’s suggestions, including free land distribution to peasants and constitutional social rights. These changes helped Mexico’s GDP grow sixfold between 1940-1970.

Nearly 100 years after Madero’s pen spurred economic and political change in Mexico, a second “Mexican manifesto” was published, and we have a chance to get in on Mexico’s revolutionary growth.

Studying the Subtleties of Obrador’s Manifesto to the People of Mexico

On July 29, 2009, disenfranchised former presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador drafted Manifesto to the People of Mexico.

The 2006 presidential election in Mexico was a brutal, down-to-the-wire fight. In fact, many Mexicans still don’t recognize the current president, Felipe Calderon, as the legitimate leader of Mexico. Obrador contested the results and even ends his pronouncements — including the Manifesto — with the sign off, “Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Legitimate President of Mexico.”

The left-leaning Obrador continues to mock and fight with supporters of Calderon, as well as the president himself. In his manifesto, Obrador slams Calderon’s handling of this economic recession. But there is another message articulated in this document — one you need to familiarize yourself with.

He writes, “It is crucial to continue creating alternative networks of information to break our enemies’ manipulation of the media. It should be borne in mind that the very instrument of domination that the oligarchy uses is through controlling television, radio and the press.” This simple paragraph is the third of five changes he claims the Mexican people need to fix their political and economic systems. It’s also a giant opportunity for us.

If media control goes back to the people of Mexico as Obrador suggests, it will do so in one of two ways: dissolving the current media outlets completely or restructuring them.

Dissolving television, radio and newspapers as they stand today would probably be a disaster. In today’s modern world, the demand for information is incredible.

Restructuring, however, would take only a few small tweaks and could help drive Mexico’s economy out of this recession.

While the current government does have a large amount of influence on media, it operates in a pseudo free market system. Many of these outlets — TV and radio stations, newspapers, and even international press agencies — are publicly traded.

Restructuring would lead to billions of pesos pumped into these organizations, which would push share prices much higher. Even the possibility of spin-offs would create moneymaking opportunities.

Source: How Mexico’s Second Manifesto Could Pay You a Fortune

Good day… Hola! And a Terrific Tuesday to you! Well, today is Cinco De Mayo… It’s a fun day so go have some fun! I few years ago, I talked about Cinco De Mayo, and some guy took exception to it, and called me a really nasty name… So, I won’t get all flowery about the day, except to say, go have some fun!

Of course, to me, the saying “go have some fun” is a staple of my being! Especially these days! I realize that I need to have “more fun”, but work, and all that gets in the way, darn it! HA!

OK, enough of that! Well! You should have seen that currency rally yesterday! WOW! The Big Dog, euro, traded all the way to 1.34 and change, saw profit taking, which caused it to drop back down, only to end the day moving past 1.34 again… Overnight, the euro hit 1.3438, but once again, profits and the fact that stock futures are showing weakness have brought the Big Dog back under 1.34… Before I left for Bermuda, Chris mentioned that the euro was having a problem getting past 1.31… Well, that’s in the rear view mirror now, eh? And I would like to think that eventually so would 1.34… Not that I’m rooting for the Big Dog… I say that, because then fundamentals would be in play once again… It’s been a long time, now I’m, coming back home, I’ve been away now, oh how, I’ve been alone…

The Aussie dollar (A$) also saw a nice bid all day long yesterday, and moved past 74-cents, and remained there overnight! The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) left rates unchanged last night, and delivered a fairly balanced statement afterward… I like their approach, as they keep reminding the markets that they need to see what’s in the pipeline after all the previous rate cuts! This non-move was very much what the A$ needed to continue its march higher!

Now… I don’t like having to say this, but these strong currency moves were helped along by the strong performance (+214 points) in stocks yesterday… As we’ve been discussing for some time now, it’s just like when one Emerging Markets currency gets whacked, all Emerging Markets end up getting whacked… Stocks and currencies are considered “risk assets”, and have only on occasion over the years, been lock-step, with each other. So… When “risk assets” are going good, all “risk assets” get going… And vice versa… And… Like I keep saying, this is rare to see this, but we’re seeing it anyway, and judging from the speakers at the Total Wealth Symposium in Bermuda last week, it had better end soon enough, for those speakers all believe this stock market rally is nothing more than a bear market rally, and doesn’t have the legs to make us all forget the rot on the vine here in the U.S….

Whew! That was long run-on sentence, that I should go back and fix… But, hey! People talk like that, why not write like that! HA!

It looks like the European Central Bank (ECB) will meet this week, and some of thoughts in the markets here, is that the ECB will move rates lower. Those thoughts are also responsible for the drag on the euro to bring it below 1.34 this morning… You know what gets me though? Everyone in the world that follows these things has known since the Central Bank meetings were announced in December that the ECB would be meeting this week. And do you think they just had a V-8 moment this morning, and remembered the ECB might cut rates? This is all crazy! Yes, they know, and they did know, all the time the euro was rising like the Phoenix bird from the ashes the last 4 days.

Remember, a month or so ago, I told you about the games that people play now, every night and every day now? They have to do things like this to keep the euro from going off on a moon shot VS the dollar… The dollar’s rally since July 2008, is looking very worn out… Shoot Rudy, even Treasury yields are rising, which indicates the unwinding of all those safe haven trades… Now, I’m not saying that this is in “full swing” but it sure is showing signs… So, as I’ve explained a few times in the past, if the “safe haven” buys get unwound, the pressure on the dollar will be fierce… So… If the ECB “remembers” to remind the media that they have a rate meeting this week, after it looks like the euro is going to the moon, then you can put that down to “managing the rise”…

So… Have you heard of the Chiang Mai Initiative? It’s an agreement by Asian nations that will create a $120 Billion fund to serve as a “liquidity pool” by the end of the year. This money will be used to promote growth in the region and to defend currencies and guard against financial ills arising from the economic crisis.

I yelled across the desk yesterday when this news was announced, and Ty Keough said, “They’ve come a long way from a decade ago”… This was in reference to the Asian Crisis that did happen a decade ago, when all Asian countries melted down, led by Thailand… It’s taken these Asian countries a decade to deal with this, but at least they have done so now! I like this idea… And on a side bar… About 5 years ago, the Big Boss, Frank Trotter, and I put our heads together on an idea for an Asian Currency Union (like the European Union) with a single currency we called the “pan”… Could this be the baby step in that direction?

Speaking of Ty… Did you know that he once played on the U.S. national team, and would have played in the Olympics, but President Carter boycotted those Olympics held in Russia because Russia had invaded Afghanistan?

OK… Ty also sent me a story from the Financial Times (FT) last night regarding China… You’ll want to read these snippets closely…

“China and Argentina in Currency Swap”… OK, so what does that mean? Well here’s the FT to explain… “China, which is pushing to end the dominance of the dollar as a worldwide reserve, has agreed a 70 Billion renminbi ($10.24 Billion worth in dollars) currency swap with Argentina that will allow it to receive renminbi instead of dollars for its exports to the Latin American country.”

Folks… The Chinese are serious about ending the dollar’s dominance as a reserve currency. They’ve proposed using a new SDR (Special Drawing Rights) basket consisting of a veritable Whitman’s sampler of currencies… And now this… You’ve got to think that they are working on more of these types of currency swap agreements…

And then there was this… Still no “official” word on the results of the stress tests… Just news that Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) and Citgroup (NYSE:C) will both have to raise $10 Billion in Capital… The Wall Street Journal reported that yesterday… The longer we wait, the more the rumors will circulate about the results… For instance, there’s a rumor going ’round, that someone’s underground, no wait! The rumor is that 10 of the 19 so-called Big Banks, that had to undergo the stress tests will be told they need to raise more capital… That number (10) has come down though, just yesterday the rumors had it at 14!

OK… The “winner” for yesterday’s currency run VS the dollar, was the Brazilian real! I looked at the currency screen late in the day yesterday and saw the real had gained 2.76% VS the dollar in one day! Ok… That’s a good day, but what about the recent performance of this once high flying currency (before the selling began in July last year)? Well… Not too shabby… The past 3 months has seen the real gain nearly 8% VS the dollar!

Another high yielder that had a strong performance yesterday was the Mexican peso… Just in time for Cinco De Mayo! Yes, the Mexican militia defeated the French… But it’s not, as most people think, Mexico’s Independence Day.. That’s September 16… Oh No! I did it, I talked about Mexico… I can see the emails now! UGH! But the peso did have a strong performance yesterday!

The data cupboard is pretty empty today, after yesterday’s second tier reports of Pending Home Sales, and Construction Spending printed, and left us guessing what really is happening in the economy… Today, though, we’ll get a clear, concise, view of the economy from our Fed Chairman, Big Ben Bernanke! OK… I can wish can’t I?

Norway’s Norges Bank meets today… I’m not expecting a rate move here… But then, you never know for sure these days!

And finally… The price of Oil has really moved up in the past week… It’s done this before a few times, only to fall back.

Currencies today 5/5/09: A$ .7455, kiwi .5820, C$ .8540, euro 1.3390, sterling 1.5090, Swiss .8855, rand 8.2875, krone 6.5050, SEK 7.9175, forint 212, zloty 3.25, koruna 19.82, yen 99, sing 1.47, HKD 7.75, INR 49.43, China 6.8192, pesos 13.21, BRL 2.1125, dollar index 83.80, Oil $54.50, Silver $13.07, and Gold… $902.55

That’s it for today… As if I don’t get up early enough… I woke up for some unexplained reason 20 minutes before my alarm was to go off this morning… No sense trying to go back to sleep for 20 minutes! UGH! It’s down to the last 3 hours for my fave show 24… We actually saw Chloe actually cry last night! (for 24 watchers you know that’s a big deal!) I was way off yesterday in my thought that I had two weeks before traveling again… The Las Vegas Money Show is next week! UGH! I’ll be doing a web-cast at that show on Gold… I’ve never done a talk strictly on Gold, so this should be interesting… Any way, I believe all you have to do is go to www.moneyshow.com and register for my web-cast, and then you’ll be able to watch it “live” from Las Vegas! I had better get to work on that Gold presentation, so I don’t look like a dork… No wait, no amount of work is going to help me with that! HA! Cardinals’ centerfielder, Rick Ankiel had to be carted off the field last night after running into the outfield wall… Sure hope Rick is OK… All righty then… I hope your Cinco De Mayo is fun, and you have a Terrific Tuesday!

Source: It’s Cinco de Mayo!

As a guy that has spent way too much time in rough water, I absolutely detest the clichéd phrase “a perfect storm,” but when it is apt I cannot help but use it. So here goes. This week has been a perfect storm for Mexican investors.  It physically hurt to write that sentence.

As if a bloody and growing drug war was not enough, Mother Nature threw Mexico a deadly flu outbreak and a 6.0 earthquake earlier this week. It was enough to force investors to flee back across the border.

Hard hit were the country’s pig producers like Smithfield Foods (NYSE:SFD), its cement makers like Cemex (NYSE:CX) and of course, its airports like Pacific Airport Group (NYSE:PAC). All of these companies were down by (or real close to) double-digit percentages during the week.

Even Mexico’s telephone and television providers were hit by the news. Apparently the worst symptom of the swine flu is falling share prices.

Even the Mexico peso was smacked hard on Monday, dropping by more than 4%.

Back at the feeding trough

Fortunately today has been a healthy reprieve from the fallout. There has been little to no signs of a worsening flu pandemic. People are not dropping like teenage girls at a Beetle’s concert (or an Obama sighting). And share prices have found enough of a reason to continue their climb even after a solid week of gains from the equities market.

Wall Street appears to be undecided about next week’s action, however. About half of the crowd is calling for a fizzle, while the other half is calling for more gains based on signs the economy is improving at a faster-than-expected rate (the stimulus worked!).

The answer will come from Mexico. Watch the iShares MSCI Mexico ETF (NYSE:EWW), which has the perfect ticker considering the current flu scare, over the next few trading days. It will be a strong indication of what Wall Street thinks of Mexico’s economic chances.

If the fund lags the market, I expect the equities markets to eventually turn around and follow Mexico into the red. If the ETF is a strong leader, however, it means the fears were way overblown and the equities market as a whole is undervalued.

Just as this pandemic mess appears to have started in Mexico, hints about where the American markets are headed could emerge from the region early next week.

As much as I hate to admit it, the Obama administration did the right thing by keeping the borders open. It gives us an opportunity to sneak across the Rio Grande and grab some profits.

Source: Bears vs. Bulls: What About the Pigs?

“Bullish news today on top of the recent Chinese stimulus package and news of Saudi Arabia’s supply cuts failed to overcome economic concerns,” said Sucden Research analyst Michael Davies.

Among that bullish news was a report that militants are threatening to renew attacks on oil facilities in Nigeria. A few months ago, that would have automatically shoved the oil market higher. No longer.

Oil prices will likely “keep skipping along bottom here at the $60 per barrel range until we see the fully-implemented OPEC cuts and some winter demand data hitting the market,” said Neal Ryan, of Ryan Oil & Gas Partners.

And Mexico has reportedly hedged almost all of next year’s oil exports at prices ranging from $70 to $100. That stood in stark contrast to last year, when the world’s sixth-largest producer hedged only 20-30% of exports.

“This is a clear sign that they fear oil prices will remain below $70 a barrel in 2009,” said Kathy Lien, of GFT Forex. Lien added that “we doubt that they are the only oil producing country to start hedging.”

Source: Crude closes below $60 -  Mexico hedging like crazy

Of course the floods in the Midwest will only aggravate rising food prices. But Kevin Kerr of Resource Trader Alert says the worst pain for consumers probably won’t make itself felt till next year. That is, for the moment the cattle and hog farmers have enough corn-based feed in reserve… but once that runs out, they’ll slaughter a significant portion of their livestock and do nothing to replace it, because it will simply cost too much to do so.

Energy? Not much better. Byron King from Outstanding Investments is watching the rapid depletion of Mexico’s Cantarell oil field. I asked him what the latest estimates are for when Mexico goes the way of Indonesia and becomes a net oil importer. 2011, he said. Not a good situation for the U.S. #2 supplier (after Canada).

We discussed any number of other matters too, the results of which will show up in the editors’ recommendations to their paid membership in the weeks ahead. You can access all of it with the Agora Financial Reserve. Membership opens up only a couple of times a year, and one of those times is now.

In-between meetings I’m still keeping my eye on the nonsense that passes for economic news in the mainstream press. A front-page story in yesterday’s Washington Post marked a severe setback to the burgeoning trend last month in which the accuracy of government economic figures were starting to come under scrutiny. In the world of the Posties, the economy is just ducky and perception just isn’t matching up with reality. The notion that the books are being cooked wasn’t even acknowledged. Sigh.

Source: Report from the Editorial Meeting

“The recent inflation dynamic is worrying,” Banco de Mexico’s five-member board said in a statement. “The balance of risks for inflation has worsened.”

Consumer prices in Mexico jumped nearly 5% in May from a year earlier, the biggest jump since 2004, according to Bloomberg News. The government has issued a price freeze on tortillas, cooking oils, beans and roughly 150 other items this year to ensure its population is adequately fed.

The decision surprised many analysts as it flouted the country’s president, Felipe Calderon, who has hinted that borrowing costs are already too high. Still, inflation demanded Mexico’s attention as soaring food and energy costs have resulted in what has fast become a worldwide inflation epidemic.

Soaring fuel prices pushed India’s inflation rate to a 13-year high in early June, adding to speculation the central bank may accelerate its own monetary tightenting initiative, Financial Times reported. Inflation reached 11.05% in the 12 months ended June 7, up from 8.75% the previous week, and well above the 9.82% median forecast in a Reuters poll of analysts, the paper reported on its Web site.

Earlier this month, the Reserve Bank of India announced a surprise rate increase of its own, pushing its key lending rate up 25 basis points to a full 8%. The bank also raised its cash reserve ratio – the amount of cash banks must keep on hand – by 25 basis points to 8.25% as recently as April 29.

In China, consumer prices rose 7.7% in May after inflation reached a 12-year high of 8.7% in February. China’s producer price index rose 8.2% in May, the highest in more than three years.

The problem isn’t any better in mature markets either. Eurozone inflation hit a 16-year high in May, as costs pushed inflation up 0.6% to an annualized rate of 3.7%. High commodity costs fueled the increase, as food costs jumped 6.4% in May up from 6% in April. Energy prices soared 13.7% year-over-year on the back of record high oil, up from a 10.8% increase the month prior.

In the United States, the producer price index (PPI) jumped 1.4% in May, the largest increase since November. Over the last 12 months, producer prices have increased 7.2% compared to the 6.5% increase in April.

“Just about everywhere prices are rising and they are doing so at a strong pace,” said Joel Naroff, president and chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors. “While the pathway from intermediate and crude goods price increases to consumer prices is quite unclear, it is never good news to see the extensive nature of price increases that were contained in this report.”

After nine months of cutting interest rates and lending freely to financial firms hoping to ease the credit crunch pain, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke is signaling a new willingness to reverse course and battle inflation.

“The risk that the economy has entered a substantial downturn appears to have diminished over the past month or so,” Bernanke said earlier this week. “The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will strongly resist an erosion of longer-term inflation expectations.”

The FOMC is scheduled to meet June 24 and 25. It is widely expected that it will vote to hold rates steady.

Source: Mexico Joins the Global Battle Against Inflation with Surprise Rate Cut

A rally commenced which quickly turned into a vertical line that looked like it was heading for the outer edges of the known universe. Ditto for silver. Then, around 9:15 a.m. NY time..and as expected, the bullion banks showed up and hammered both rallies as flat as a pancake. Silver actually closed down on the day, and down 42 cents from it’s high peak of $17.74. Gold was driven back below $900…down more than $10 from it’s peak…which was $908.60.

You have to be brain dead not to see what’s happening here. This is the third time this week that vertical price spikes in both metals were clobbered shortly after the Comex open. As I’ve said in the past…no profit-maximizing seller ever sells like this…ever! Only those trying to control the price do this sort of thing. And, as always, the CFTC, SEC and your mining company’s executives are nowhere to be found.

Open interest for Wednesday’s price gains are as follows…gold up a pretty big 5,648 contracts, and silver added an insignificant 179 contracts. Volume in both metals was very heavy yesterday, and the open interest numbers will certainly reflect that (hopefully) when they come out later this morning.

I spoke with Ted Butler yesterday morning as both gold and silver were being driven down from their highs. He also confirmed heavy volume along with massive buying (and short covering) by the tech funds in the Non-Commercial category, coupled with the bullion banks taking the short side of all trades. Even Gartman went long again yesterday. Unfortunately, this week’s rally is rapidly turning into a carbon copy of every other rally we’ve ever had…tech funds go long, bullion banks go short. How long this rally lasts is anyone’s guess. However, options expiry is next Wednesday…and first day notice for delivery will be two days later on Friday, June 27th. Anything (and I mean anything) can happen between now and then…and the fireworks have already begun. And once again, we’ll have to wait until next Friday to see Thursday’s activity show up in the Commitment of Traders report.

In gold news I see that South African gold output (in April) fell 10.1% in volume terms. The Reuters story didn’t say if this was m/m or y/y. Does it matter? I also note that Rhodium closed above the $10k mark for the first time ever at $10,010. Now that’s a precious metal!!!

Today’s first story is from The Telegraph out of London. Mervyn King, the governor of the BOE, has some rather frank words for the public about what’s happening…and what’s coming down the road…although I have no idea how he sees inflation coming to an end when the printing presses are running flat out. I guess it’s the British version of spin. The story entitled “Things will get worse, warns Bank of England governor Mervyn King” and is linked here.

The second story is rather interesting and worth noting carefully. It will be of more than passing interest if this bill gets passed. It’s entitled “Senators propose ban on commodities investing” and the link is here.

Let’s see…what else happened yesterday. Twice the PPT saved the Dow after it fell below 12,000. Two ex-Bear Stearns fund managers were arrested by the FBI. Mexico imposed price controls on food. House Democrats called for nationalization of all oil refineries. That’s quite enough.

Today is Friday…and they are always interesting. This one should be no different. Have a great weekend and all of us at Casey’s Daily Resource Plus will see you right here on Saturday.

Source: And Then There’s This…Friday, June 20th, 2008

For the tale of the tape, the TSX Exchange fell 1.88%, while the TSX Gold Index gave back 0.8% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, dropped 0.58% with the declining issuers once again outpacing the advancers, this time by a 644 to 430 margin on big volume of nearly 262 million shares traded.

Kadywood Capital increased its C$200 million financing to C$260 million. The private placement will fund the purchase of 50% of the contained gold, platinum and palladium metal in ore mined and shipped from multiple FNX Mining operations in Ontario. Kadywood intends to change its name to Gold Wheaton. Kadywood ended the day down C$0.09 at C$1.10, while FNX added C$0.43 to close at C$25.70.

Largo Resources continued to benefit from its exploration exposure to vanadium as well as news that it has launched a scoping study over the Northern Dancer tungsten-molybdenum project in the Yukon. Largo can earn a 70% stake by issuing 4 million shares and spending C$5 million on exploration. Largo can then purchase the remaining interest from Strategic Metals for C$5 million in cash or stock at Strategic’s election. Largo ended the day up C$0.19 at C$1.40, while Strategic gained C$0.01 at C$0.52.

Pediment Exploration got a modest boost after reporting a 13.7 metre drill intercept running 16.3 grams gold per tonne at its Los Planes deposit in Mexico. Pediment closed out the day at C$1.54, up C$0.03.

Inflationary pressure continues to be a concern to the equity markets with rising interest rates typically bad for stocks. We will see what Friday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup: Friday, June 20th, 2008

“While the U.S. housing market is still searching for its bottom, the situation is much livelier just south of the border.” says Sara Nunnally in Taipan Daily. “Mexico’s housing sector is seeing a strong resurgence.”

Most of this recovery – for it is a recovery, and we’ll talk about that in just a minute – is in vacation or recreational properties. And despite the cooling investments in the U.S. housing market, Mexico is seeing investment growth.

In 2005, foreign investment in Mexico was $17.6 billion. In 2006, that number was around $20 billion, with resort and vacation property investment holding more than 25% of total investment. In fact, in the first half of 2006, 500 acres of new resort property on the Pacific Coast was snapped up for $125 million.

The market for vacation and recreational properties in Mexico is booming, with $5.3 billion of foreign investment flowing into these properties just last year. Most of the activity is centered on new markets such as Puerto Peñasco and San Felipe in Baja
California, but we’re also seeing new growth in well-known areas like Puerto Vallarta and Los Cabos.

For example, one gentleman in Los Cabos has well over $100 million in property sales to his credit: condos, villas, homes, home sites and commercial resort properties…

Many buyers are coming from America. Twenty-five percent of U.S. citizens living abroad are living in Mexico. That’s about 1 million Americans – quite nearly an invasion.

Folks in Southern California can retire just over the border to Baja California and buy a comparable home for 20% less than U.S. market prices. An estimated 78.2 million people are on the edge of retirement, and a 20% savings on a retirement home with great views sounds pretty tempting.

With billions of dollars in foreign investment being pumped into Mexico’s economy, there’s been a full-blown real estate revival that extends to low-income, affordable housing.

The market for vacation and recreational properties in Mexico is booming, with
$5.3 billion of foreign investment flowing into these properties just last year.
Real estate, especially in the residential arena, may be among the country’s hottest sectors.

With the scorching hot resort and vacation industry in Mexico, you may be tempted to buy your own retirement home down there. The country has made it a lot easier, and less risky, to do so.

Investors are now protected by U.S. title insurance, bonded escrow accounts, extensive title searches, and Fideicomisos, which is a renewable Mexican property trust established specifically to protect foreign investors.

You have all the rights of a property owner in the U.S. or Canada, including the right to enjoy the property, to sell, rent, or to improve the property, whatever you want to do.

If you’re a real-estate investor, Mexico is a great emerging-market for you to consider.

They are seeking cheap, easy access to the 2,000-mile border with the United States, and the Mexican government is helping them, even creating laws to aid them. Why? Because these people pump $5.3 billion into the country’s economy every year.

Mexico’s being paid off, and certain U.S. agencies are joining in. They want to make it even easier for foreign nationals to creep into our southern neighbor’s towns and cities.

In one popular nest, the wave of zealots has reached 60 people a day. That’s about 15% a year as the size of this camp has grown to over 200,000. The state government in the area is allowing this group to run rampant; the incoming cash is too hard to resist.

Not a single alarm has been raised, even though this one camp is a mere two-and-a-half-hour flight away from the heart of Los Angeles.

Who’s in charge, anyway? The Mexican Foreign Ministry and Ministry of Governance? The United States Customs and Border Protection? The Department of Homeland Security?

Try none of the above.

No, we’re talking about the NAR and the AMPI, who’ve been working together for the past six months while governments and activists were removing obstructive, inefficient laws that hindered their “clients.”

NAR stands for National Association of Realtors, and AMPI stands for Asociación Mexicana de Profesionales Inmobiliaros. And no, these groups are not helping fund terrorist cells in Mexico. They are helping individuals buy real estate.

I know, I know… Every time the business circle talks about housing there’s an overtone of fear: lower housing starts, homes staying on the market longer, rising interest rates, rising number of foreclosure. It all adds up to make one scary picture. The U.S. housing industry is in dire straits.

But while the U.S. housing market is still searching for its bottom, the situation is much livelier just south of the border. Mexico’s housing sector is seeing a strong resurgence.

Most of this recovery – for it is a recovery, and we’ll talk about that in just a minute – is in vacation or recreational properties. And despite the cooling investments in the U.S. housing market, Mexico is seeing investment growth.

In 2005, foreign investment in Mexico was $17.6 billion. In 2006, that number was around $20 billion, with resort and vacation property investment holding more than 25% of total investment. In fact, in the first half of 2006, 500 acres of new resort property on the Pacific Coast was snapped up for $125 million.

The market for vacation and recreational properties in Mexico is booming, with $5.3 billion of foreign investment flowing into these properties just last year. Most of the activity is centered on new markets such as Puerto Peñasco and San Felipe in Baja
California, but we’re also seeing new growth in well-known areas like Puerto Vallarta and Los Cabos.

For example, one gentleman in Los Cabos has well over $100 million in property sales to his credit: condos, villas, homes, home sites and commercial resort properties…

Many buyers are coming from America. Twenty-five percent of U.S. citizens living abroad are living in Mexico. That’s about 1 million Americans – quite nearly an invasion.

Folks in Southern California can retire just over the border to Baja California and buy a comparable home for 20% less than U.S. market prices. An estimated 78.2 million people are on the edge of retirement, and a 20% savings on a retirement home with great views sounds pretty tempting.

With billions of dollars in foreign investment being pumped into Mexico’s economy, there’s been a full-blown real estate revival that extends to low-income, affordable housing.

The market for vacation and recreational properties in Mexico is booming, with
$5.3 billion of foreign investment flowing into these properties just last year.
Real estate, especially in the residential arena, may be among the country’s hottest sectors.

With the scorching hot resort and vacation industry in Mexico, you may be tempted to buy your own retirement home down there. The country has made it a lot easier, and less risky, to do so.

Investors are now protected by U.S. title insurance, bonded escrow accounts, extensive title searches, and Fideicomisos, which is a renewable Mexican property trust established specifically to protect foreign investors.

You have all the rights of a property owner in the U.S. or Canada, including the right to enjoy the property, to sell, rent, or to improve the property, whatever you want to do.

If you’re a real-estate investor, Mexico is a great emerging-market for you to consider.

–S.R. Nunnally

Source: The Big Land Grab in Mexico