 |
|
|
 News from Around the Americas | July 2006 
Mexican Election Draws Attention in US
 News-Leader.com
| | Why so much interest on this side of the border? Is it because we Americans genuinely care about the welfare of our friends and neighbors to the south and want them to elect a stable and compassionate and competent government that treats all citizens with fairness and dignity? |
Interestingly, a Mexican presidential election turned out to be a big story in the United States.
It didn't hurt that this was an excruciatingly close race. In the end, pro-business conservative Felipe Calderon of the National Action Party (PAN) inched past the leftist former mayor of Mexico City, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), to win by a margin of less than 250,000 votes.
Lopez Obrador is challenging the results, but chances are that Calderon is the next president of Mexico. Why so much interest on this side of the border? Is it because we Americans genuinely care about the welfare of our friends and neighbors to the south and want them to elect a stable and compassionate and competent government that treats all citizens with fairness and dignity?
Get real. There's only one reason most Americans would give even a passing thought to a presidential election south of the border: immigration.
This isn't Las Vegas we're talking about. What happens in Mexico does not stay in Mexico. It spills northward.
As long as Mexico fails to produce enough well-paying jobs to satisfy the needs of citizens within its borders, the United States will continue to see its southern border overrun by the downtrodden and the desperate.
Just what does "well-paying" mean in a Third World country? You might be surprised. I recently spoke with a Mexican businessman who heads an association of coffee growers. He insisted that many Mexicans would pass on the whole immigrant experience — the dangerous journey, the brutal smugglers, the life in the shadows — and opt to stay home if they could get just $10 a day as opposed to the $6 daily wage that many Mexican workers now earn.
Of course, illegal immigration can't be blamed entirely on Mexico. Not as long as Americans remain addicted to the lifestyle that comes with ready access to cheap illegal immigrant labor. Many of the addicted don't even realize they're hooked. People think that because they don't have a nanny or because they cut their own grass, their hands are clean. But many live in cities with thriving economies — Dallas, Denver, Phoenix, Las Vegas and the like — and a major reason those economies are humming is because of a reliance on cheap illegal immigrant labor.
As Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., pointed out during recent congressional hearings on immigration in San Diego, it's like America has two signs on the U.S.-Mexican border: "Keep Out" and "Help Wanted." If you can see past one, the other offers hope for a brighter day for you and your children.
That's hypocrisy. And it's also a reality that Felipe Calderon can't change. Still, a lot of Americans are hoping that the 43-year-old lawyer with a graduate degree from Harvard will — either by preventing migrants from crossing the border or by creating a more robust economy that Mexicans are reluctant to leave — solve a problem that we helped create.
Ironic, isn't it? It used to be that Mexico was always coming to the United States looking to be bailed out. Now the United States wants to be bailed out by Mexico.
It may not be that simple. Calderon doesn't seem to be afraid to stand up to the United States. For instance, in a rebuke of Bush administration policy, he recently said that he doesn't believe that walls or National Guard troops can prevent illegal immigration.
Besides, if Calderon is as "pro-business" as they say, he might decide that the business of Mexico is remittances. With immigrants in the United States sending home nearly $20 billion annually — more than Mexico takes in from tourism or oil — it'll be hard to give up that revenue.
Hey, what did you expect? Many Americans derided Lopez Obrador, the socialist, as dangerous for Mexico and the United States. We wanted a devout capitalist, and that may be what we end up with. Then we'll have to live with it.
Email Ruben Navarrette Jr., at ruben.navarrette@uniontrib.com. |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us