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Is the US “a bully or an ally”? |
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June 14, 2000
MEXICO CITY (AP) - The United States: a bully or an ally? A partner or a threat? Mexicans' conflicting feelings about their northern neighbor have become an issue in the country's July 2 presidential elections. As allegations mount that the United States mistreats Mexican immigrants, President Ernesto Zedillo's ruling party - which took credit for improving U.S. relations of late - is trying to exploit anti-U.S. feelings in the electorate. The party is attacking the leading opposition candidate for being too close to the Americans. "Many Mexicans who go to the United States ... are hunted by racists as if they were animals," says a television commercial by the governing Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI. The ad accuses opposition candidate Vicente Fox of failing to criticize U.S. immigration policies.
The race pits Fox, a former Coca-Cola executive and advocate of free trade, against PRI candidate Francisco Labastida, who has hinted at a return to a more state-supported economy. PRI campaign ads accuse Fox, who is also a former governor, of prodding people from his state to seek work as gardeners in the United States.
"I think Fox could answer that there are 18 million Mexicans in the United States because of the PRI's mismanagement of the country," said political scientist Federico Estevez of Mexico City's Autonomous Technical Institute, a major private university. Labastida, meanwhile, has been criticized for proposing universal classes in computing and English in schools - though the latter might benefit his supporters, who recently published a newspaper ad with the quasi-English headline: "Fox is Chicken Out." Both leading candidates have pledged to fight drug smuggling. Both say illegal immigration can be solved only in the long term by increasing incomes and job opportunities in Mexico.
While Labastida would probably maintain the status quo in bilateral relations, Fox wants to make ties even closer - perhaps too close for comfort for some in Mexico City and Washington. "My proposal is for us to open the border to free transit in five or 10 years, and create a common market in 20 years," Fox said. "I've presented the idea in Washington, and at first I think it surprised them," he said. "But I think they understood." It's partly because of the nationalist sensitivity involved that the U.S. government has maintained a studied neutrality on Mexico's election. But that doesn't mean Washington policy-makers don't care: Political stability in Mexico is key to U.S. security. U.S. officials have said both Labastida - who would be the first Mexican president in 18 years who didn't attend a U.S. university - and Fox are acceptable. And Estevez said the Mexican government is stable and there is little chance of violence no matter who wins. But a razor-thin win by Labastida could create charges of fraud and months of post-electoral protests. Fox has hinted at such a scenario, saying: "If someone from the regime decides to repress our peaceful revolution, it is he who will cause the turbulence." Even the slightest chance of instability worries both Washington and Wall Street: Mexico is now one of the United States' chief trading partners. The North American Free Trade Agreement, implemented in 1994, cemented the two countries' ties. Officials now consult regularly on almost every issue from trade to law enforcement to reduce the surprises and spats that have sometimes poisoned relations. And an economic downturn in the United States could devastate Mexico's economy - increasing pressures on Mexicans to migrate north. "The United States cannot stand by, unconcerned about problems that affect Mexico," Mexico City-based analyst Jorge Chabat said.
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