Mexico Has to Become Involved in United States Politics

Luis de la Calle says that if anything became clear from the invitation to Donald Trump to visit Mexico it is that in our country we simply do not understand the politics of the United States. That includes the president and his closest advisers. Without intending to, they gave the orange demagogue the best moment of his campaign, the only moment in which he looked presidential, and he did it at the expense of humiliating our president.

For many in Mexico there is no – or there wasn’t any, before Trump – reason to interest ourselves in what happens politically to the north of our border. Now it has become clear that we had better get involved.

Our politicians have interpreted what this means poorly. They believe that it is valid to proselytize on behalf of one candidate or another. It is not.

Let’s imagine what we would think if Roberta Jacobson or any other representative of the United States government openly supported a candidate of PAN or PRD. We would see it as an unpardonable interference that violates our sovereignty. We should not interfere either.

What we can do is protect the rights of Mexican emigrants in the United States. At present that is done strictly to avoid abuse in cases of detention, legal deportation procedures or other times in which an emigrant comes up against a system that he does not know in a language he does not speak. That is one of the most important functions of the Mexican consular network that with 50 offices is the largest in the world.

What should occur now is motivating the political participation of the Mexican-American population. It should be done without partisan bias. The only objective should be that Mexican-Americans achieve representation at all levels of government in numbers appropriate to the size of their population. We are light years away from achieving that. Our fellow Hispanics have been lukewarm and reluctant participants. In part, because they carry in their blood the apathy and uncertainty of those who have emigrated from a political system – the Mexican one – that has given them little or nothing. But also because at times it takes generations to put down roots in the communities in which they are establishing themselves. The first generation that emigrates is dedicated to survival and it will be their children and grandchildren who can integrate themselves into their communities, have access to education and achieve economic progress. And typically, they leave political participation for last. It never stops being a surprise to see the negligible presence of Mexican-Americans in the highest political ranks of the Democrats or Republicans.

The priority of the government of Mexico should be the well-being of Mexicans, regardless of which side of the border they are on. The rise of the nativist movement for which Trump carries the standard is extremely worrying. He resorts to strategies similar to the ones that have caused the marginalization of the African-American population for 150 years.

The extraordinary documentary “The 13th,” which it is possible to see on Netflix, alludes to the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution that eradicated slavery in 1865. It narrates in detail the process of the “re-enslavement” of the blacks, the development of a narrative that presents these liberated slaves as a threat to whites as aggressive and ignorant people, criminals and rapists. That permitted the criminalization of minor offences to incarcerate them. At this time, the possibility that a white man passes through prison in the United States is one in 17; that of a black is one in three. The punishment for the possession of crack is, for example, a hundred times higher than that of cocaine. The first is typically used by blacks, the second by whites.

The use of similar terms by Trump to refer to the “threat” that Mexican immigrants present is not accidental. The objective is to continue criminalizing immigration. As was done with the black population, to harshen penalties and establish severe minimum punishments. And, by the way, offering fresh meat to the growing private prison system.

The long-term goal is to deprive them of political strength precisely through this criminalization. In many states, to go to jail is to lose the right to vote for life. In Alabama, a third of voting-age blacks cannot vote.

This is an election in which the vote of Hispanics may determine the outcome in battleground states that have significant populations of them.

That would be the case in Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Florida. I dare to think that it will not be evident that the Hispanic vote is what will make the difference. If I am mistaken, it will be a historic opportunity that it is important to take advantage of.

Mexican foreign policy needs profound changes. In the catastrophic rise of the demagogue, the embassy in Mexico was either vacant or in the hands of Basáñez, who is inept. The absurd and irresponsible pineapple Roemer at UNESCO now gives us another demonstration. If humane reasons are not enough to make us smarten up, let us do it for economic reasons, like the fact that the North American Free Trade Agreement has been placed at risk.