Bob Ray Sanders
Tuesday, Dec. 04, 2012
In 1997, I witnessed what I thought was the beginning of a new era of Texas and United States relations with Mexico, a strengthening partnership that was expected to result in cultural and economic benefits to both nations.
I, along with four other opinion writers from around the state, had been invited to coffee with Gov. George W. Bush, and it happened on the same day the governor was receiving Mexico's secretary of foreign affairs, Jose Angel Gurria Treviño. Before our official meeting with Bush, we talked to him and Gurria about increased trade between Texas and Mexico and the southern neighbor's political shift toward what Gurria called a "deepening of democracy." They also discussed candidly the then-recent rejection of former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld as nominee to be ambassador to Mexico. He was brought down by fellow Republicans in the Senate, led by North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. It was when I watched Bush interviewed by a Mexico television newsman, answering his questions in fluent Spanish, that I realized he was probably just the right person to help forge this renewed relationship. When Bush was elected president three years later, with more than 40 percent of the Hispanic vote, many people on both sides of the border heralded what they believed was a perfect opportunity for our countries to work together on a host of issues. But, after Sept. 11, 2001, practically everything took a back seat to the fight against terrorism. Mexico became an afterthought except in the areas of growing immigration, spiraling drug violence and severe economic woes that contributed to both. After a decade of lost opportunity, the timing is right again for the United States and the state of Texas to begin rebuilding those relationships with a country that shares 2,000 miles of border. A young former governor, 46-year-old Enrique Peña Nieto, was sworn in Saturday as Mexico's new president. Although representing the old Institutional Revolutionary Party (or PRI), Peña Nieto is promising to transform his country, which is greatly divided by the haves and have-nots, dominated by overreaching monopolies, engulfed in corruption and crumbling with old, neglected infrastructure. Peña Nieto, as president-elect, visited with President Barack Obama in the White House, and Vice President Joe Biden attended the inauguration Saturday in Mexico City. Those are good signs, but this new relationship has to be more than show; there must be substance. In addition to all the other ills facing his country, Mexico's new president -- elected with only 38 percent of the vote -- will face continued political opposition and mistrust from a large segment of society. Violent protests broke out in the capital and all over the country on his inauguration day. We must pay attention to what is happening there, for we can't afford to ignore a country that has Latin America's second-largest economy. Mexico is Texas' No. 1 trading partner, and the U.S.'s No. 3 trading partner. The U.S. is Mexico's largest trading partner and largest foreign investor, according to the U. S. Department of State. The State Department notes on its website that "Mexico and the U.S. do as much business in just over a month as Mexico does with all 27 countries of the European Union combined in a year." About 80 percent of Mexico's total global exports of $230 billion go to the U.S. Texas ranchers and farmers certainly know the benefit of exporting goods to Mexico. Agriculture exports from Texas to Mexico in 2010 totaled $1.4 billion, according to the Texas Department of Agriculture. And the 15 counties along the border understand the economic boost of $145 billion in goods being imported through their cities. The time is ripe for this new international cooperation. We shouldn't allow anyone or anything to put it on hold again.
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