MEXICO CITY – On his second international trip in two weeks, President Barack Obama is visiting the largest metropolitan area in the western hemisphere: Mexico City.
It’s a bustling, crowded urban center of over 20 million people known for YouTube worthy traffic jams, spontaneous street protests and high crime.
Mexican security forces decked out in full combat gear and armed with heavy machine guns have been posted throughout the city and many streets have been blocked off for Obama’s two-day visit beginning Thursday afternoon.
 |
| Daniel Aguilar / Reuters |
| Mexican Federal policemen patrol around the Presidente Intercontinental hotel on Wednesday, ahead of President Barack Obama’s visit. |
While the city boasts many important cultural and historical sites, including more museums than any other city in the world, it’s a chaotic place that makes moving a head of state enormously challenging.
Over the past century, visits by American presidents to Mexico City have been relatively rare; instead most have travelled for meetings with Mexican leaders in safer and more pristine resort locales.
In fact, according to USA Today, out of the previous 29 U.S. presidential trips south of the border, only five have come here: Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Bill Clinton.
Why is Obama coming to Mexico City then?
…(read more)
