This year Manuel “Manny” Romero-Vargas is celebrating his 50th year in aviation. To legions of business aircraft operators who have flown to Mexico and ranged through the country, the septuagenarian handler is known simply (and affectionately) as Manny, the personification of business aviation in Mexico.
Given the resources that Mexico has at its disposal, why is the republic’s level of poverty so high? To put it another way, why isn’t the middle class as large, per capita, as those in Canada or the United States?