T en years ago, Trinidad Hernández thought life in Mexico would change beyond recognition. Like most residents of Ecatepec, a poor and sprawling municipality on the outskirts of Mexico City, he was tired of the Institutional Revolutionary party (PRI), whose unbroken rule had defined his country's political system for 71 years. At the July 2 2000 election, he voted for change.
"There was so much excitement in the air," recalls the 56-year-old musician, who scrapes a living playing in a local mariachi troupe of strolling musicians. "We thought that all the tiny things that made our lives difficult would suddenly improve."
