Drop Anti-American Stance, Says Mexico's Foreign Minister

[NATO AIR]

its 2 years old, but the effort is still continuing in Mexico to deprogram the population of its "learned" anti-american attitudes....

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/columnists/andres_oppenheimer/4568508.htm?1c

Posted on Thu, Nov. 21, 2002

Drop anti-American stance, Mexico's foreign minister says

MEXICO CITY - Something very unusual happened this week in this country long known for its fiery nationalistic demagoguery: Foreign Minister Jorge G. Castañeda said it's time for this nation to stop being anti-American.

Speaking at a book presentation before Wednesday's celebration of the 92nd anniversary of the 1910-17 Mexican Revolution, Castañeda -- a former leftist intellectual who has become one of President Vicente Fox's most trusted Cabinet members -- said Mexico's current clash between pro-American sentiment and anti-American rhetoric is creating a bad case of ``political schizophrenia.''

Mexico's nationalism and anti-Americanism made sense in the 19th and 20th centuries, Castañeda said. The country had lost half of its territory to the United States, and it was only logical that its leaders would try to build a national identity based on nationalism and anti-Americanism.

''But what's happening today?'' Castañeda asked. ``These two theses should not only be considered outdated, and be phased out, but are unsustainable in today's world. One can't continue defining Mexico's national identity, or any other country's national identity, primarily through nationalism.''

Why? Not only because we live in a globalized world, in which countries depend more on exchanges of goods, services and people than at any time in recent history, but because Mexico in particular depends more than most countries on good relations with the United States.

Consider: About 90 percent of Mexico's trade, nearly 90 percent of Mexico's foreign tourism, more than 75 percent of foreign investment and more than 95 percent of the remittances of Mexican workers living overseas -- which have become the country's third-largest source of income -- come from the United States. In addition, 25 percent of Mexico's economically active labor force works in the United States.

Mexico's political and intellectual elites -- which in many cases still cling to the old-guard nationalistic rhetoric of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) that ruled this country for seven decades until Fox's 2000 election -- have traditionally said that this percentage of the country's work force is ''overseas.'' Baloney, Castañeda said. They don't work in China: nearly 100 percent work in the United States.

''With these figures, to continue maintaining that Mexico's nationalism can be defined through anti-Americanism, creates a brutal national schizophrenia,'' Castañeda said. ``Onthe one hand, the immense majority of this country's population has a direct, personal, immediate interest in having a good relationship with the United States, and at the same time it is being asked to be anti-American.''

Instead of ''being nationalistic,'' Mexico should defend its national interests, which is quite different. Sometimes, that may mean opposing the U.S. government, and sometimes it may mean supporting the U.S. government, but never allowing anti-Americanism to cloud decisions that should be in the best national interest, Castañeda said.

Indeed, there is an incredible gap between Mexico's reality, and the old-guard anti-American rhetoric one still hears from the opposition PRI, the left-of-center Party of the

Democratic Revolution (PRD) and many of Mexico's academics and journalists.

While opposition parties and many newspaper columnists are blasting Fox's foreign policy for its alleged pro-American slant -- in fact, Fox has irked U.S. officials recently with his vote in the United Nations on Iraq, and with his bland response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks -- a recent poll by the Chilean polling group Latinobarometro showed that 63 percent of Mexicans have a positive image of the United States. By comparison, only 38 percent of Argentines have a positive image of America.

Will Mexico leave behind its anti-Americanism? I'm not that sure. This capital is rife with rumors that Castañeda wants to leave his job, possibly to become education minister. And some of the people who may replace him, including government secretary Santiago Creel, are consensus-seekers who are likely to be more influenced by the opposition's old-guard nationalism.

Carlos Monsivaís, a prominent writer and one of the most brilliant minds of Mexico's democratic left, is somewhat more optimistic.

''Mexican society has long ceased to be nationalistic: It's a post-nationalistic society. Nobody that I know of is demanding an anti-American war, or anything like that,'' Monsivaís says. ``What it is asking is that Mexico demand the end of racist U.S. anti-immigration policies, and other issues that affect us.''

That's true. But Mexico's opposition is resorting almost daily to old-guard nationalism and thinly disguised anti-Americanism to criticize Fox's foreign policy.

What Mexicans have today is not so much a love-hate relationship with the United States, but a clash between reality and an anti-American credo that has been pumped into them since high school by authoritarian governments that have hid behind nationalism to ignore post-World War II principles of human rights and democracy.

Fox and his foreign minister are trying to change that, but old habits die hard.

 

[007]

This is a good idea. If relations between Mexico and America were cleaned up and updated, combined, we could become a power house that China would NEVER surpass. On top of that, it would show canada that pulling their liberal head out of their ass might not be a bad idea.

 

[dilloduck]

This is a good idea. If relations between Mexico and America were cleaned up and updated, combined, we could become a power house that China would NEVER surpass. On top of that, it would show canada that pulling their liberal head out of their ass might not be a bad idea.

Boy would THAT require some nation building in Mexico---we'd need a huge crowbar to separate the government form the crooks.

 

[NATO AIR]

Boy would THAT require some nation building in Mexico---we'd need a huge crowbar to separate the government form the crooks.

that's most countries though. the war over corruption in government is one many nations still have to fight, and one we haven't quite finished.

i like pale rider's thought though... seriously if we could improve our relations with central and even south america, man would we be a powerhouse, especially with Brazil being the world leader in food production now and becoming quite a regional power.

 

[Said1]

On top of that, it would show canada that pulling their liberal head out of their ass might not be a bad idea.

Dream on Pale, dream on!

 

[Gunny]

This is a good idea. If relations between Mexico and America were cleaned up and updated, combined, we could become a power house that China would NEVER surpass. On top of that, it would show canada that pulling their liberal head out of their ass might not be a bad idea.

I doubt that. More like it'll take a couple of nukes with "made in Iran" painted in big bold letters on it. Nothing like some after-the-fact indignance.

 

[William Joyce]

Mexico sucks because it's filled with Mexicans. It's that simple. We should boot the ones here now back there, and put troops on the border to prevent them from returning.

 

[OCA]

Mexico sucks because it's filled with Mexicans. It's that simple. We should boot the ones here now back there, and put troops on the border to prevent them from returning.

What an intelligent post. Lots of thought put into this one.