Apr
“I love BJ”.
Or sort of. But don’t get me wrong, I’m just quoting a slogan from the political party Nueva Alianza.
In the vicinity of the legislative elections that will take place on July 5, 2009, in Mexico, the self-proclaimed liberal party is helding a “I love NY“-inspired campaign in the municipality of Benito Juarez (BJ), one of the 16 boroughs that constitute Mexico City.
Other than this posters I haven’t seen any other kind of advertisement, needless to say any kind of information, but the phrase and its relationship with other sort of BJs, just keep me smiling every time I see it. ;)
I was born and bred in the district of Benito Juarez. I remember my childhood and adolescence in its streets: riding my first bicycle, playing football or just walking at dawn after a long party.
But besides good memories there are factual reasons to love the place if you are one of the approximately 356-thousand lucky BJed inhabitants of the place.
According to a Human Development Report from the United Nations (1), the borough of Benito Juarez, is supposed to have a similar life expectancy and level of economic and educational development as in Italy or New Zealand, which held the fancy nineteenth and twentieth place respectively.
Half of the economically active population of the district is employed in the tertiary sector of the economy. From each 100 residences, 93 have a refrigerator, 86 enjoy telephone service and 60% of them own a car.
In addition to Human Development Index numbers, you should also know that BJ is the motherland of the poet Valentín Gómez Farías and Fernández de Lizardi, the writer of The Mangy Parrot, the first novel written and published in Latin America.
So, yes indeed, I love BJs.
