Puebla, a beautiful colonial city in central Mexico, was the scene last week of a gathering of CONAGO, the Conferencia Nacional de Gobernadores (Mexican National Governors' Conference).
CONAGO is composed of Mexican state governors belonging to opposition parties (i.e. not to Vicente Fox's PAN party).
But the assembled Mexican governors used the occasion to attack, not Fox, but an American governor—Arnold Schwarzenegger of California.
Schwarzenegger, as I've reported before, is persona non grata in Mexico. The Terminator's latest offense was terminating SB60, the California law granting driver's licenses to illegal aliens.
THE CONAGO gang condemned this evil action and called on Governor Schwarzenegger to reverse it.
They're also planning to send a delegation to the United States next month, to interview Mexicans in California and, if possible, Governor Schwarzenegger himself.
Do you believe, as many Americans do, that Vicente Fox meddles in U.S. internal affairs too much?
Well, guess what? Governor Ricardo Monreal, of Zacatecas, thinks Vicente Fox hasn't meddled enough, and needs to do more meddling to protect Mexican illegal aliens in the United States.
According to Monreal, the revocation of SB60 is bad because "it could bode a greater xenophobia and persecution against Mexicans and Latinos...Now, under a right-wing (sic) government [undocumented migrants] could lose civil victories." [Governors stand up for migrants' rights, Jorge Ramos and Blanca Patricia Galindo, El Universal, December 8th, 2003]
It's good that California's new governor has revoked a really bad piece of legislation. But many of Schwarzenegger's statements indicate that he would countenance driver's licenses for illegal aliens under different circumstances, and that he supports amnesty. The vigilant folks at American Patrol have so little confidence in Arnold's immigration policies that they have a regular feature called "Arnold Watch" just to keep an eye on him.
Monreal's statements clearly demonstrate how Mexican officials think on this issue. They will attack ANYTHING, no matter how small, which abridges or even threatens the "rights" of illegal aliens in the United States. They will continue to demand the U.S. keep its borders open and do everything possible to accommodate illegal aliens. But it will never be enough.
Monreal also voiced support for the big strike that was planned for California on December 12th. It appears the protest was pretty much a flop, but you can see that Monreal has no qualms about intervening in U.S. politics.
Nearly all prominent Mexican politicians spout about emigration and how bad Mexicans have it in Gringolandia. But Ricardo Monreal seems to have made a career of it. He's the same governor who made the outrageous declaration that 70% of the U.S. military was Black and Hispanic, with 40% being of Mexican origin.
Governor Monreal has a vested interest in keeping the northern border open. His state, Zacatecas, is the number one source of Mexican emigrants to the U.S.A. Zacatecas has recently changed its election laws to allow Mexican emigrants in the US to run for office in Mexico.
What does Monreal think would happen if all those Zacatecans were to return from the U.S. and live in Zacatecas? Would they all have jobs? Would they be making as much money as they were in the U.S.? Would they be happy with their living conditions?
Would they be satisfied with his administration?
Ricardo Monreal, like most prominent Mexican politicians, does not care to face such issues. Like most prominent Mexican politicians, Monreal prefers that emigrants stay in the United States, that more Mexicans go to join them, and that Mexican emigrants send back as much money as possible.
Do the remittances sent by Mexican emigrants to Zacatecas and other states really help? Well, they've become a major source of Mexican income, earning more than manufacturing, tourism or agriculture.
Remittance money does benefit a lot of grocery stores, since nationwide, 95% of it is spent on groceries and day-to-day supplies. But little of it is being invested in economic development and job creation. Emigration is not a long-term solution to Mexico's economic problems.
I've been to Zacatecas. It has beautiful scenery, great tourist attractions and plenty of economic potential. So what's being done to develop that potential?
As Mario Garcia, mayor of a small community in the state put it, "People have one thing in mind, and that is to go to the United States."
Pedro Chavez, a Zacatecas farmer, pointed out the obvious: "The people here can make more money by staying at home and waiting for a check from the United States, so many of them do not work. At least they do not want to work in Mexico." (Jobs Mexicans won't do?)
And here's a real zinger. Zacatecas is Mexico's number one producer of beans and chili, both of which are staples of Mexican cuisine. Yet the state of Zacatecas does not have one processing plant for processing beans and chili!
Why not? Are they so busy encouraging emigration that nobody thinks it's worth the time?
It seems to me that processing plants for beans and chili would be a great way to develop the economy of Zacatecas, and provide jobs for Zacatecans.
But I guess it's a lot more fun to bash the governor of California, isn't it?
It's time American elected officials started bashing back.
American citizen Allan Wall lives and works legally in Mexico, where he holds an FM-2 residency and work permit, but serves six weeks a year with the Texas Army National Guard, in a unit composed almost entirely of Americans of Mexican ancestry. His VDARE.COM articles are archived here; his FRONTPAGEMAG.COM articles are archived here; his website is here. Readers can contact Allan Wall at allan39@prodigy.net.mx.
