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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | July 2005 
Fox Defends Memín As Beloved Image
 Morgan Lee - Associated Press
| | Mexican President Vicente Fox speaks during an interview at the Los Pinos presidential residence in Mexico City, Mexico on Friday, July 1, 2005. Fox said that U.S. activists who have called a new Mexican postage stamp racist do not understand the issue and should read the comic book. (Photo: Dario Lopez-Mills) |
President Vicente Fox on Friday rejected calls to withdraw a new postage stamp that U.S. activists called racist, saying critics didn't understand the beloved comic book character on which it was based.
The stamp featuring Memín Pinguín, a sort of Jim Crow-era vision of a black child, "is an image in a comic that I have known since infancy," Fox said in an interview with The Associated Press. "It is cherished here in Mexico." During a 40 minute interview at his official residence, Los Pinos, an upbeat Fox used both English and Spanish as he ranged over topics including what he called a "war" on drug traffickers along the border, hopes for a U.S. immigration accord and Mexico's housing boom.
Once known for his informal manner and frequent use of cowboy boots, Fox wore a dark suit, blue tie and standard shoes during the session in an office overlooking a garden with palm trees.
But as he prepared for Saturday's celebration of the fifth anniversary of his election, which ended 71 years of single party rule, Fox found himself under fire from U.S. black activists outraged by the postage stamp homage to the comic book character.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Rev. Al Sharpton and leaders of other black and Latino organizations urged on Thursday that the stamp be withdrawn.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan called it an example of racial stereotyping.
"Frankly, I don't understand the reaction. Let's hope they inform themselves ... and later form an opinion," Fox said.
"The other minorities or the Afro-Americans or Latins, I would suggest to them that first, read the magazine, get the information and then express publicly their opinion. On our side, we know that all Mexicans love the character, and we're going to keep it where it is as a recognition." In a letter to President George W. Bush late Friday, the head of Mexico's National Council for the Prevention of Discrimination, Gilberto Rincón Gallardo, accused the stamp's critics of trivializing the fight against racism.
"Since this seems more the result of a misunderstanding because of differing cultural contexts than a disagreement based on genuine discriminatory practices, we call your attention to the negative consequences for the fight against discrimination itself these complaints can cause," Rincón Gallardo wrote.
He went on to say that "the biggest risk we face is the trivialization of the task and challenges presented in the fight against racism in Mexico." The head of the largest U.S. Hispanic rights organization on Friday said he expected more from the Mexican government.
"We are left troubled by these telltale signs of another area," said Héctor Flores, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens. "We are left troubled by these telltale signs of another era. As a sovereign nation, Mexico is entitled to act, think, and practice their own form of government, but when you're thinking about the global community you expect a higher standard of behavior." Mexican blacks weren't surprised, and many attested to being ignored or mistaken as foreigners in their own country.
"Police frequently make people sing the national anthem, if they get you on the highway or in the bus station, because they think you might be a Central American," said Eduardo Anorve, a black rights activist speaking by telephone from the Pacific coast state of Guerrero.
Mexico has several, small black communities. But activist Sergio Peñalosa, also on the Guerrero coast at Cuajinicuilapa, said "many Mexicans will still say that there aren't any blacks in Mexico." Fox's election in 2000 ended 71 years of rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and was widely heralded as a new beginning for democracy in Mexico.
The president said he still hopes for a comprehensive accord with the United States that allows for orderly, lawful and humane migration. He also said he still hoped to win passage of a reform of Mexico's outdated justice system before he leaves office in late 2006. The proposal is now stalled in Congress.
"For the first time we're close to reaching an integrated solution" to migration, Fox said.
The president conceded that migration reform is largely in the hands of the U.S. Congress and President George W. Bush, but said Mexico's government was doing its best to spur job growth so that fewer migrants leave.
Fox said federal troops and agents who were sent to several border cities in early June in response to a surge in gangrelated violence will remain until there is "total order," Fox said.
On June 8, the Nuevo Laredo police chief was gunned down within hours of taking office, prompting Fox to send in federal agents.
"They have declared war on us, and a war they will have," Fox said Friday.
Mexican authorities blame the violence on a war between rival drug gangs that has spilled over into the ranks of local police forces.
Fox said that he would propose stiffer criminal penalties for police officers caught cooperating with criminals and for drug dealers caught selling to children.
Fox said democracy was "bearing fruit," highlighting the reform of Mexico's home mortgage system and an explosion in housing construction.
While Fox's government is the first in decades to avoid a major financial crisis, many Mexicans complain the government has not yet done enough to improve people's lives. |
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