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What to Make of Mexico's Garish Limelight
March 25, 2009
The limelight has been on Mexico of late. Truckers versus trade agreements, travel advisories versus Spring Break in Cancún, border intelligence versus border militarization, all have been in the news. A recent Gallup poll shows Mexico's unfavorable rating among the general US population at its highest point since the anti-NAFTA populism of 1993. It is now less popular than Egypt and just above bully Russia and rival China.
It is in this context that President Obama announced his intention to come here in April. His visit will follow Secretary of State Clinton, who sources say plans to have an "intense" workload here, dealing with the issues (and there are many). This Obama administration one-two foreign trip underscores the fact that, for all of the hand-wringing on behalf of our punditocracy regarding Mexico's importance vis-a-vis the US, no administration can afford to ignore Mexico for long.
No suprise there. If our chattering classes spent a little time investigating the intensity of our day-to-day inter-governmental relations, they would not need to speculate on the momentary fancy of the US Commander-in-Chief. But there's nothing like high level State visits to stroke the national ego.
What is surprising is how the media light shining on Mexico today is so garish and superficial. Just when we need laser-like penetration to analyze difficult problems, we get facile stereotypes north of the border and Chicken Little-style apocalypticism (mixed with self-flagellation) here. That is how a stalwart democratic ally and integrated friend to the US has a worse image than an authoritarian North African country.
Even expert analysts often don't "get" Mexico. Recently, a widely-read Miami Herald columnist revived the old canard regarding Brazil's "taking" the leadership position from Mexico with respect to US-Latin America relations. "Goodbye, Mexico", he says, citing Brazilian President Lula da Silva's warm reception in Washington. Now that President Obama has announced his intention to visit does that make us "cooler" than the Brazilians?
Of course not. US-Mexico relations are in a completely different league, for better and for worse, from US-Brazil relations. Whether you're talking about trade, migration (in both directions), the size of diplomatic missions, cooperation, even cultural integration and shared history, there is no comparison. Brazil's attempts at leadership do not diminish Mexico's importance because Brazil is irrelevant with respect to US-Mexico relations. And Mexico is irrelevant with respect to US-South America relations. The only time we coincided was when Mexico had to impose visa restrictions on Brazilians because, when we tried open access, Brazil became the number one source of OTM undocumented migration to the US. "OTM", by the way, is how US immigration officials refer to the rest of the world's immigrants; it means "Other Than Mexicans".
But even the experts consistently fail to understand Mexico's significance and misrepresent our country. The communication problem starts with our not respecting ourselves. Like a spouse in an abusive relationship, we believe that we somehow deserve our humiliation. Even Mexico's most intelligent journalists too often take their criticism to the edge of the "failed state" extreme. If they don't like a change to electoral law, they declare the end of Mexican democracy. If they talk about poverty Mexico is depicted as a lost cause, ignoring the heroic and successful efforts that our society makes to keep hunger at bay for tens of millions of people every day. At the same time, the American public's passive-aggressive attitude towards Mexico (not actually lashing out, but always criticizing) plays off Mexicans' low national self-esteem and no one is well informed.
Mexico is a huge, diverse country that is stronger than even most Mexicans understand. Curiously, the apocalypticism preached by much of the media (and some major politicians) has meant that we are partially "inoculated" against some forms of social unrest. So many people have been so aggressive in their criticism; so many politicians have been so inflammatory in their demonstrations and rhetoric; and so many criminials have been so violent, that it is really quite difficult to fundamentally destabilize Mexico. Street demonstrations that overthrow governments from Thailand to Iceland and Argentina, elicit a weary shrug here.
This is neither to downplay the very serious problems this country faces, nor to be dismissive of intelligent criticism. But it is precisely because the problems are so serious that we need to be sober in our reflections, more measured in our tone, and generally better informed. Lastly, our presidential administration, which often acts like a see-no-evil national cheerleader, should start listening to valid criticism. While it is true that most of what is written is alarmist fluff, other suggestions, especially with respect to public security and governmental accountability, need to be listened to intently. Mexico deserves more from all of us: let the lights shine!
For the latest thought-provoking article by Agustin Barrios Gomez please go to our Opinion Column page
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