The new Mexico, beyond stereotypes

By Ariel Moutsatsos, Special to CNN

updated 11:46 AM EDT, Thu July 25, 2013

 

President Barack Obama meets with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto in Mexico City in May.

Editor's note: Ariel Moutsatsos is minister of press and public affairs for the Embassy of Mexico in the United States. 

(CNN) -- On his recent visit to Mexico, President Barack Obama called on both our nations to let go of attitudes "trapped in old stereotypes." Sadly, a column written for CNN by Ruben Navarrette -- "Should the U.S. be more like Mexico?" -- makes just the sort of sweeping generalizations about a diverse country of 110 million people that the U.S. president urged us to avoid.

It might come as news to Navarrette that the Mexico of his grandparents, which still seems to inform his view of the country, is no longer an accurate description of a nation that, in 2013, has a growing, sophisticated middle class and is a relevant and responsible actor in global affairs. Because Navarrette says Americans should be fully informed on the matter, his misinformed and outdated characterization of Mexican society deserves some correcting.

With regard to immigration, Mexico respects the sovereign right of the United States to determine its own immigration policy, and the American people and their political representatives will ultimately determine what course that policy takes in the United States. Navarrette's depiction of Mexico's immigration policy, however, is inaccurate and outdated.

Ariel Moutsatsos

To my knowledge, no Mexican official has ever expressed a desire for a porous northern border. Moreover, in 2011, Mexico passed its own immigration reform focused on the decriminalization of immigration and providing protection for migrants, regardless of their migratory status. The legislation earned praise from the United Nations and established a solid framework to assist in the protection of migrant rights while better aligning Mexico's domestic policy with international treaties on migration.

Those significant steps do not merit an easy dismissal with a rhetorical wave of the hand. They are meaningful changes that will affect lives. Navarrette's column goes on to paint Mexicans as desperate to escape their home country, but the numbers tell a very different story. According to a 2012 report by the Pew Hispanic Center, migration between the United States and Mexico is at net zero. And a recent Gallup survey found that only 11% of Mexicans would like to change their country of residence; that number is identical to the 11% of Americans who say the same thing.

By 2010, around 40% of Mexico's population had joined the ranks of the middle class, according to data from INEGI, Mexico's national bureau of statistics. The characterization of Mexico as a bifurcated country of rich and poor is less accurate than ever, and according to in-depth research from economist Luis de la Calle and writer Luis Rubio, authors of "Mexico: A Middle Class Society," that trend is expected to continue.

It is not something that has happened by accident. To say, as Navarrette does, that Mexico "has no real economic policy beyond tourism" is not to be paying attention. Mexico's fiscal discipline, which will include another balanced budget this year, has led to the steady macroeconomic growth that is directly responsible for lifting many Mexicans into the middle class.

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Our tourism industry, which also somehow appears to be worthy of Navarrette's disdain, does so well because Mexico is heir to two of history's greatest civilizations, and is a country of astounding natural beauty. The Mexican government embraces those realities and so do the millions of visitors we welcome, who generated $11 billion in revenue last year. But the idea that Mexico is content to rest on its tourism industry requires willful blindness to the transformations taking place in our nation.

As a result of unprecedented agreements between the country's main political parties, Mexico has recently pushed through large-scale reforms to education, anti-trust laws and legal procedures, with energy reform still on the agenda. Does that sound like a country with no real plan beyond tourism? The administration does have a National Development Plan, although Navarrette claims it does not exist.

The tone of the column pits Mexico and the United States in a sort of competition, deeming one of our countries "superior" to the other. For our part, we stand by the U.N. Charter that affirms the sovereign equality of all its members. Careless comments about superiority easily lend themselves to racism and xenophobia. Thankfully, bilateral cooperation between our nations has long since moved beyond such thinking.

Twenty years after the implementation of NAFTA, Mexico and the United States have become global partners. Our relationship is not one of competition and rivalry but of synergy and complementarity. For example, the National Bureau of Economic Research has estimated that nearly 40% of Mexican exports to the United States contain components manufactured in the U.S. Mexico is also the second largest export market for U.S. goods. In fact, according to the Woodrow Wilson Center's Mexico institute, some 6 million U.S. jobs depend on trade with Mexico.

Our nations build things together to sell here and abroad, and business is booming. In 2011, trade between our two countries reached $500 billion. But we share more than business and value-added chains -- we share geography and people. Our people live together, work together and break bread together. Given that 30% of immigrants in the United States are of Mexican origin and Mexico is home to the largest community of American expatriates in the world, both our countries have a responsibility to ensure that we continue to grow together.

Mexico and its people are evolving, and both our countries are stronger for it. If I may invoke the words of President Obama once more, "It's time to put old mindsets aside."

Mexico’s Rise and US-Latin American Relations: A New Paradigm?

Source: http://www.voltairenet.org/

ramonpenafranco.wordpress.com

From the end of the Cold War to the beginning of the 21^st Century, US hegemony in Latin America reached unparalleled heights. As a result, the implantation of neoliberalism occurred in a region that needed a new economic remedy after the failure of state intervention[1].

However, neoliberalism did not have the expected results in Latin America. Starting with Mexico’s economic implosion in 1982 due to an unsustainable foreign debt burden, the region experienced a series of foreign debt defaults and subsequent economic contractions and rampant inflation. The 1980s in Latin America came to be known as the “lost decade”.[2]

As Europe and the US currently face critical challenges to fix their economy, many Latin American countries are even less willing to imitate the US economic model. Moreover, they are increasingly inclined to create their own policies to cope with global economic slowdown.

As a result, American influence in the region has progressively deteriorated over the turn of the century. The 2012 Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia offered a vivid picture of the state of inter-American relations. The hemisphere’s heads of state underscored the weakening ties between the US and Latin America[3]. It also revealed the limited vision of both Washington to enhance a defined strategy toward the region.

However, while most countries in the region are following independent economic paths, US-Mexico economic cooperation is likely to grow. Indeed, Mexico’s prospect of economic growth is different than the rest of Latin America, and so is its economic relation with its northern neighbor.

No country is more integrated, economically and demographically, with the US, than Mexico. It accounts for two-thirds of US trade with Latin America and half of its energy imports from the region. The implementation of NAFTA strengthened the economic relations with the US since 1994, to which Mexico sends 80 percent of its exports, and from which receives the main source of FDI.

As stated above, current economic and geopolitical dynamics are likely to bring this relationship closer. Given the current high-energy costs and Chinese wage inflation, Mexico’s advantageous geographic proximity to the U.S. is helping boost exports. HSBC reckons that by 2018 Mexico will overtake Canada and China to become America’s main source of imports[4].

It has also been overwhelmingly the largest source of immigrants to the US, both legal and illegal. Nevertheless, this trend is also beginning to change. As a result of the country’s manufacturing boom, Mexicans are no longer massively working on US construction sites or agricultural fields. Contrary to what the 2012 US presidential election debate implied, illegal immigration to the US has been in reverse for several years[5].

More importantly, Mexicans are also crossing the border to invest in the US. Companies such as Cemex, which is the largest cement maker in the US, and Grupo Bimbo, which recently acquired Sara Lee for almost $1bn, are leading the way. Univision, which is now partly owned by Televisa, the Mexican broadcaster, is now the fifth-largest television network in the US[6].

A stronger economic partnership seems to be beneficial for both countries. Mexico’s new administration has expressed its intention to privilege the economic relation with its northern neighbor beyond migration and security issues. President Enrique Peña Nieto has affirmed that the most important part of the US-Mexico relationship is the economy, which is why he wants to concentrate on strengthening economic ties between the two nations[7].

Despite controversies surrounding the immigration reform and the construction of a wall in part of the US-Mexico border, both presidents have signaled that their administration would seek to focus the bilateral relation on the economy. Staff members of the Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center in Washington, DC have suggested that Peña Nieto wants to change the relationship from one where the focus is on Mexico as a source of drugs and people—a problem—to one where Mexico’s economy is a source of opportunity for the U.S. to create jobs[8].

On the other hand, economic concerns are at the top of Obama’s second term, a situation that could also prompt Washington to explore a stronger economic cooperation with its southern neighbor. The financial crisis and a decline in world power will continue to prevent Washington from formulating a strategy towards Latin America. However, the bilateral relation with Mexico can reach new heights as long as it focuses on common ground.

Mexico’s economic view and its geographical position have the potential to serve not only as a strategic partner for the US, but also as a pivot state to influence the region from an economic perspective. As Washington seeks solutions for its problems and as the economy continues to stagnate in Europe and to slow down in Asia, America will have to look down for its historical backyard. This time, however, Latin America has become more independent and less willing to find common ground with Washington.

Raising concerns on the ability of Washington to deter the influence of China –not only in Asia but also in Latin America–, will take the form of currency and trade battles. While Latin American countries will try to continue to diversify their trade partnerships and develop a stronger domestic market, Mexico will remain economically open, thus providing a growing market to fuel the American economy.

Ultimately, if Mexico manages to adopt these investor-friendly policies and achieves to formulate a more intelligent and pragmatic foreign policy, a new era in the bilateral relation would emerge, as both presidents are beginning new terms. Eventually, a more proactive US-Mexico relationship and lasting economic growth would help usher new possibilities to cooperate with the rest of Latin America, and Mexico could eventually set an example to other commodity-driven economies.

---

[1] Eric Hershberg and Fred Rosen, Latin America After Neoliberalism. Turning the Tide in the 21^st Century? (The New Press, New York, 2006), p. 26

[2] Russell C. Crandall, The United States and Latin America After the Cold War (Cambridge University Press, 2008), p. 55

[3] “The Incredibly Shrinking Vision: US Policy in Latin America”, Peter Hakim, Inter-American Dialogue, July 5, 2012.

[4] “Special report: Manufacturing Magnet Lures FDI”, HSBC Mexico, March 27, 2012.

[5] “Special Report on Mexico – Migration: The ebbing Mexican wave”, The Economist, November 22, 2012

[6] “Mexico is forgotten story of US election”, Financial Times, October 14, 2012.

[7] CNN interview with Emilio Lozoya Austin, September 17, 2012

[8] “Mexico’s New Leader Tries to Shift Dynamic”, The Wall Street Journal, November 27, 2012.

Washington, Mexico: Far apart but bound by mutual interests

New consul sees Washington state and Mexico moving closer together, bound by immigration and increasing trade.

 

By Jerry Large

Seattle Times staff columnist

 

Mexico, but it is getting closer all the time. Immigrants and trade are drawing us closer to our southern neighbor, and Mexico’s representative here, Consul Eduardo Baca, would like to see even stronger ties.

Baca, who’s just finished his first month in Seattle, said he wants to serve the Mexican expatriate population, expand economic relationships and cultural understanding, and find time to enjoy the Northwest, maybe go whale watching in the San Juans.

We spoke last Thursday as the U.S. Senate was passing an immigration bill in which the border with Mexico and the relationship between the peoples on either side was central.

Baca was, well, diplomatic about the bill. It would offer a path to citizenship for millions who are in the country without legal permission, and would make the border harder to cross. “At this point we view it as an internal matter of U.S. government process, and we are following it very closely to see what eventual implications it would have for our citizens,” he said.

Baca acknowledged that the United States and Mexico have a complex relationship that includes both positives and negatives but said the important thing is that the countries have created frameworks for dealing with the negatives without letting any one issue contaminate a relationship that is beneficial to both.

Washington state “is a long way from the border,” Baca said, “but we do have an important Mexican community here.” More than 11 percent of the state’s population is Hispanic, he said, and close to 80 percent of that are people who have roots in Mexico some recent, some generations old.

Since the North American Free Trade Agreement went into effect in 1994, Baca said, trade between the state and Mexico has increased 500 percent, to about $3 billion last year. Most of that trade, $2.5 billion worth, is in goods Washington sells to Mexico.

One of Baca’s goals is to encourage Washington businesses to further expand that trade. His consulate serves Washington state and six counties in Idaho. In addition to managing Mexican interests here, the consulate provides assistance with passports, visas and other help for Mexican nationals and people traveling to Mexico. When I visited the consulate, on Third Avenue near Blanchard Street in downtown Seattle, it was packed with people waiting for services.

The staff of 19 serves 2,000 to 2,400 people a month, most of them wanting passports, birth certificates and other documents. A team of six staffers periodically sets up shop in a mobile consulate in other parts of the state.

Baca said his first impression is that because of its geographic location, and tradition, Washington state has been focused on Asia. Mexico is also interested in Asia, he said, but he hopes the relationships that Mexico, the United States and Canada have with one another can make all of North America more competitive in the global market.

He cited the auto industry as an example of a business sector in which cooperation benefits all three countries, making them stronger than they would be separately. He’d like to see some form of that model in other industries.

Baca, who was born in Veracruz, is a career diplomat with 25 years of service, most of it involved with North American affairs. He’s worked in Washington, D.C., and in Ottawa, and before coming to Seattle, Baca was assistant secretary for North American Affairs in the Mexican Foreign Ministry.

He said he and his family (he and his wife have two young children) are looking forward to being part of the community and experiencing what Seattle’s “cultural institutions have to offer, what nature has to offer.”

The closest he’d been before moving here was Vancouver, B.C., where he was surprised to see the forested landscape. “For us in Mexico,” he said, “If you have the sea, you have palm trees.”

While he’s getting to know the Northwest, I asked what he would like us to know about Mexicans, and he said, “We are a very strong and caring people. We are a proud people ... we are very hardworking. We are willing to participate wherever we are, but we do like to carry on our heritage, our traditions, which doesn’t mean we don’t want to integrate into the host society, for sure we do want to.”

Neither people should let stereotypes be an obstacle to getting to know each other better, Baca said. That’s a good attitude for any neighbors to have.