The visit at the very
end of last week (20-21 September) of US Vice-President Joseph Biden to Mexico
to meet with President Pena Nieto received interesting, and contrasting,
coverage in two of the major international news agencies. Associated Press (AP),
American and headquartered in New York, gave a largely factual account of the
visit that avoided any interpretation that would spill over into the more
problematic areas of relations between the US and Mexico. [1] Such issues include of course the war on drug trafficking and use as well as
quite recently the accusations coming out of several foreign capitals (in France,
Germany, Brazil and also Mexico itself) alleging that the US had spied on major
political figures and institutions in those countries. AP’s account noted the priorities
of the Biden visit as focusing on continuing trade and mutual development and
economic growth and US support for the continuing efforts of the Mexican
government to institute reform in key economic and social sectors.
The darker side of
the US-Mexican relationship raised it head soon enough, however, when later in
the week in Cuidad Juarez, put forward as one of the models for US industrial outsourcing
to Mexico but also in fact a place once qualified as one of the most dangerous
and violent places on earth, ten private citizens were massacred by a gunman
with possible ties to one of the rival drug cartels in the area.
The second account of
Biden’s visit, [2] this by the
British international news agency Reuters, fortunately did not leave the
impression of just another US official’s visit to a Banana Republic or similar
Latino client state in the Americas but highlighted the demographics of the
Latino population in the US as an important consideration for both major
political parties in the US and how this visit could be seen as part of the
Democratic Party’s strategy to hold on to the majority of Latino votes they
need in any future presidential race. Perhaps the idea in mind for Mr. Biden is
to contain Mexican troubles rather than seeking to enforce aggressive policies
that may alienate Mexicans and other Latino voters in the US. [3]
This kind of reporting illustrates how sometimes commercial
journalism seems to serve only the moment and may neglect or minimize the historical
forces at work that keep the US and Mexico locked in this awkward,
uncomfortable and yet necessary relationship. If not a failed state, Mexico is
a crippled one. More people have been killed in the Mexican drug war than the
US lost in the whole Vietnam War, and the cultural and historical divide between
the two nations remains pronounced no matter how much economic progress is
being proclaimed. With all this, I suppose one should be thankful for the
European news agencies, which usually can be counted upon to provide
interesting and provocative, if sometimes biased, reporting on developments in
the US in a way that sometimes seems more the exception than the rule in the US
itself.
***
[1] See article in link: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LT_MEXICO_US_BIDEN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
[2] See article in link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/20/us-for-biden-mexicos-endless-allure-idUSBRE98J0UM20130920
[3] A great book that often deals with US-Latin American
relations is Peter Winn’s Americas: The
Changing Face of Latin America and The Caribbean, 3rd edition
(Berkeley, California and London: University of California Press, 2006). The
section covered in pages 237-244, “From Border Town to Boom City,” deals with
Tijuana and is particularly relevant to an understanding of certain key aspects
of the present-day Mexican-US relationship.
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