Mexico and US Shoot To Kill

Published in La cronica de hoy
(Mexico) on 07 August 2019
by Juan Manuel Asai (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Brandee McGee. Edited by Helaine Schweitzer.
Relations between Mexico and the United States have never been easy. They never will be. It is not a relationship which is optional; we are obligated to maintain it until the end of time. Geography glued us to each other on this earth and that will not change. So there is nothing more we can do but accept it and move the relationship toward an era of civility as much as possible.

I say that it has never been an easy relationship because in the Mexican-American War of 1846-1847, there were no narcotics or arms trafficking problems, nor was there a Central American immigration problem, and the United States invaded us anyway, confiscated half of our territory, killed the “Boy Heroes” in Chapultepec Castle, and put the starred and striped flag on the highest flagpole at the National Palace. After that, the most sensible thing to do was not to deal with them again for centuries and centuries, but instead, here we are.

The relationship is so intense that 30 million Mexicans, born here or in the U.S., live in that invasive, heartless, and fanatical country. In some cities, there is a majority of Mexican residents. The economic exchange is colossal and the web is so complex that every time the “gringo” government threatens us with taxes, the first to complain are its own business owners.

Every generation has had its problems. Currently, drugs and weapons are the main cause of permanent tension between both countries. It is a death spiral. Mexican drug traffickers have been tasked with satisfying the “gringos’” insatiable appetite for drugs. They are stocked with enough narcotics to supply every county in that gigantic country. Those drugs inflict a terrible death toll there.

From there to here, following the same route that the drugs take only backward, the U.S. sends us all kinds of weapons which are responsible for huge massacres in our country. That is to say, as the title of this piece reads, it was already very serious before Donald Trump arrived in the White House, but his election was equal to making a white supremacist president, something which has added to the hateful rhetoric that makes everything worse and causes Mexicans and “gringos” to growl at each other, show their teeth, and keep their finger on the trigger.

Trump encourages fascist fanatics who keep assault rifles in their homes, because there, as we all know, it is easier to buy a gun than cough syrup. So we have the worst of all possible worlds: two countries with enormous problems and Trump to make things even worse.

On our side we have President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who at this point, is doing well with his aspiring Miss Universe rhetoric, that kind of “world peace” and “turn the other cheek” talk, although at this point, I don’t know if it will be for good or for evil. He prefers to stay out of things and let Marcelo Ebrard do what he can so that Trump doesn’t blow his top and end up sending in the U.S. Marines. Given how things are, it does not seem like such a bad idea to build a wall along the border. A tall and impassable one. It would be a way to start fresh and act like the U.S. doesn’t exist, and have other neighbors, we’ll say Canada and Guatemala. We’ll have problems, whatever they may be, but perhaps we’ll be able to try to solve them by talking, negotiating, and not shooting to kill.


Las relaciones entre México y Estados Unidos nunca han sido fáciles. No lo serán nunca. No es una relación opcional, estamos obligados a continuarla hasta el fin de los tiempos. La geografía nos ubicó uno pegado al otro en la superficie de la tierra y eso no cambiará. De modo que no queda más que asumirlo y trasladar la relación al ámbito de la civilidad tanto como sea posible.

Digo que nunca ha sido una relación fácil porque en la guerra de 1846-47 no había el problema del narco ni del tráfico de armas ni de la migración centroamericana y de cualquier forma nos invadieron, confiscaron la mitad del territorio, mataron a los Niños Héroes en el Castillo de Chapultepec y pusieron la bandera de la barra y las estrellas en el asta principal del Palacio Nacional. Después de eso, lo más sensato es que no volviéramos a dirigirles la palabra por los siglos de los siglos, pero no, ahí seguimos.

La relación es tan intensa que viven en aquel país, invasor, desalmado y adicto, 30 millones de mexicanos, nacidos aquí o nacidos allá. En algunas ciudades la población de origen mexicano es mayoritaria. La interacción económica es colosal y la red es tan compleja que cada vez que el gobierno gringo nos amaga con los impuestos, los primeros que se quejan son los empresarios de allá.

Cada época ha tenido sus problemas. En nuestros días las drogas y las armas son la principal causa de tensión permanente entre ambos países. Es una espiral de muerte. Los narcos mexicanos se han dado a la tarea de satisfacer el insaciable apetito de drogas de los gringos. Surten con estupefacientes todos los condados del gigantesco país. Esas drogas causan allá una mortandad terrible.

De allá para acá, siguiendo la misma ruta que las drogas pero en sentido contrario, ellos nos mandan armas de todos los calibres, que están causando una masacre descomunal en nuestro país. O sea, como dice el título de esta entrega, nos estamos tirando a matar. Ese problema, el de las drogas y las armas, ya era muy grave antes de la llegada de Donald Trump a la Casa Blanca, pero su triunfo equivale a poner a un supremacista blanco en la Presidencia de Estados Unidos, lo que ha añadido el factor del discurso de odio que empeora todo y hace que mexicanos y gringos se encuentre gruñendo, mostrando los colmillos, con el dedo en el gatillo.

Trump alienta a los loquitos fascistas que tienen en su casa una colección de rifles de asalto, porque allá, como se sabe, es más fácil comprar un arma que un jarabe para la tos. Tenemos entonces el peor de los mundos posibles. Dos países con problemas enormes y Trump para arruinar todavía más las cosas.

De nuestro lado tenemos a López Obrador que está conectado, a estar alturas no sé si será para bien o para mal, a su discurso de aspirante a Miss Universo, ese discurso de la “Paz Mundial” y la otra mejilla. Prefiere mantenerse al margen y que Marcelo Ebrard haga lo que pueda para que Trump no enfurezca y en una de esas mande a los marines. Como están las cosas ya no parece tan mala idea eso de construir un muro a lo largo de la frontera. Uno alto e infranqueable. Sería una manera de comenzar de nuevo y hacer como si ellos no existieran y tener otros vecinos, digamos Canadá y Guatemala. Tendríamos problemas, eso que ni qué, pero tal vez podríamos intentar arreglarlos conversando, negociando, sin tirarnos a matar.
This post appeared on the front page as a direct link to the original article with the above link .

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