Last week, Lacy MacAuley was in Mexico City marching in the streets with students, farmers, and families in advance of the presidential election. She spoke with young people with the thundering student-led protest movement #YoSoy132. Two weeks before that she participated in the “Alternatives to the G20” conference and the Cumbre de los Pueblos, meetings of activists and advocates in protest of the G20 summit, a meeting of presidents, finance ministers, and officials in the luxury resort area of Cabos, Mexico.

IPS Associate Fellow Manuel Pérez-Rocha was present for the Mexican elections, and voted. On Sunday July 1st, before the votes were fully counted and the final results shown, Enrique Peña Nieto, the candidate of the PRI – the party that ruled Mexico for 70 years until 2000 – was announced by the electoral institute as the likely president and subsequently congratulated by a visibly euphoric president Calderon. Manuel has been monitoring reports of electoral fraud and other issues with the candidates that have been emerging in Mexico. He is a Latin America policy and global economy expert, and a Mexican national living here in the DC area. He is returning from Mexico on Monday.

Join us for a brown bag discussion of what’s been happening Mexico. Manuel will discuss issues of fraud in the elections, as well as address the outcome of the G20 summit. Lacy will discuss the social movements that she was swept up in, show pictures, and discuss the two conferences to protest the G20.

Please come for an informative discussion, and bring lunch!