Monday, January 31, 2005

 

Mexico reacts to U.S. travel warning

 

By Barnard R. Thompson

 

Mexican officials let out an immediate howl following the January 26 public announcement by the U.S. State Department expressing concern for the safety of citizens visiting cities and towns along Mexico’s northern border.  And the crescendo rose when the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City undiplomatically made a letter on the subject, from U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza to both Mexico’s Foreign Minister and Attorney General, public.

 

The Ambassador’s letter begins: “I would like to raise with you both an issue of growing concern to me personally and to the United States Government. I refer to the current wave of violence along the border, and its impact on American citizens. While violence in the border cities is not a new phenomenon, the escalating fighting among drug cartel elements has meant a sharp increase in murders and kidnappings….”

 

Ululations quickly grew, on a par with those that continue to be expressed by many in the U.S. with respect to the Mexican Foreign Ministry recently publishing its “Mexican Migrant Guide.”  Soon others joined in the discord, while the media in both countries — actually worldwide — excitedly reported on the U.S. concerns and Mexico’s reaction.

 

Yet almost as quickly as the matter surfaced the two governments were (supposedly) able to defuse the situation, to a degree at least, following a Saturday breakfast meeting between Garza and Foreign Relations Secretary Ernesto Derbez.

 

Nevertheless, condemnation by many in Mexico of the U.S. action and how it was done will fester for some time — regardless of the reality of border area violence and the will of both governments to bring it to an end.  A rancor based on what is already being said, along with historic and national perceptions and memories.

 

Miguel Ángel Granados Chapa, a well-known syndicated columnist in Mexico, in a January 30 column faulted Condoleezza Rice for the publications.  Well into his thesis, with respect to Garza’s letter Granados wrote that Mexican officials were “surprised and offended more by the style [the publicizing of the message] than by its contents (and) the government overreacted.  That same Wednesday afternoon Derbez, one of the addressees of the letter,  discounted it.  As well, Secretary of Government (Santiago Creel), who is not directly involved in the matter, issued a rapid repudiation….  Some hours later the president’s office, and the president himself, did the same.”

 

In part, the statement from President Vicente Fox’s office said: “Regarding yesterday's letter from Ambassador Antonio O. Garza and the public announcement by the Department of State of the United States … Mexico shares the concerns of the United States government regarding the problems caused by the recent acts of violence in the north of Mexico….  Mexico is taking determined action against drug trafficking.  Mexico's government cannot permit any foreign government to judge or express itself regarding policy actions undertaken to deal with its problems….  Mexico regrets the alarm that the warning might provoke among United States citizens regarding insecurity on our borders. However, it respects the freedom and sovereignty of all democratic governments to warn citizens of dangers that, in their opinion, might threaten them.”

As for Garza’s letter, Fox himself classified it as “meddling” in Mexico’s internal affairs, which he told a group of Spanish reporters “is inadmissible.”

National Action Party (PAN) Senator Diego Fernández de Cevallos called Mexico the springboard for drugs into the U.S., which “is the swimming pool.”  Further criticizing U.S. demand and consumption, Fernández de Cevallos said that “no one can doubt that the main market in the world continues to be the U.S.”

“Insecurity on the borders must be attended to in Mexico by Mexicans, and in the U.S. by North Americans, but with collaboration because the criminals go beyond the borders of each country,” he added.

 

Senator Enrique Jackson, of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), said that Mexicans will not accept suggestions or interference in domestic affairs by other governments.  This especially when they call into doubt the ability of Mexican authorities to make decisions that insure the integrity of citizens.

 

Governor Enrique Martínez y Martínez, of Coahuila (PRI), who is also president of the U.S.-Mexico Border Governor’s Conference, called the State Department warning “regrettable and worrisome” since it has brought about a strained atmosphere and mistrust of Mexico.

“We northern governors are looking for a way to neutralize the idea that Mexico is a nation of risks, violent, because what Washington has said will inhibit investments (and) tourism, and it will affect the Mexican economy,” said Martínez y Martínez.

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Barnard Thompson is Editor of MexiData.info. He can be reached via e-mail at mexidata@ix.netcom.com.