Trump Threatens a Good Neighbor
By ENRIQUE KRAUZE, New York Times ~ January 17, 2017
MEXICO CITY - For Mexico, the United States has been a difficult neighbor, sometimes violent, almost always arrogant, almost never respectful, rarely cooperative. Mexico, on the other hand, has been a good neighbor to the United States.
To each offense, we have responded first with a gesture of noble resignation and then by searching for a practical resolution through a conciliatory openness of mind. Our positive attitude has allowed our two nations to live for almost 200 years in a generally peaceful atmosphere, though there have been tragic episodes and periods of tension. It is a record of tranquillity that few countries sharing a border can claim.
But this state of relative accord is now being menaced by President-elect Donald J. Trump, who brandished a rabidly anti-Mexican agenda during his campaign and once elected showed a disposition to act on the basis of his slanders. At his news conference on Wednesday January 11, 2017, he vowed again that Mexico would pay for the wall he wants to build. It may well be time for Mexico to change its practice of using appeasement to cushion the damage of historical grievances.
The first and most serious offense was of course the American invasion of Mexico in 1846 and the subsequent Mexican-American War, which resulted in Mexico losing more than half of its territory. It was so traumatic an event that it became the theme of our national anthem.
James K. Polk, the president behind the invasion, was a wealthy Southern cotton planter and slave owner who called Mexicans an inferior race, and the war unleashed a surge of nationalist sentiment among Americans. Of the 75,000 American soldiers involved, more than 13,000 died, a greater proportion of the population than in the Vietnam War. The number of Mexicans dead has never been firmly established, but it was certainly much greater in both absolute and relative terms.
And my reference to Vietnam is not accidental. According to ample testimony in American newspapers and private letters, the American troops in Mexico committed numerous massacres and other atrocities. Ulysses S. Grant would write in his memoirs, "I do not think there was ever a more wicked war than the one waged by the United States on Mexico."
Nevertheless, Mexico accepted defeat and moved on. It supported the Union in the American Civil War and, after 1876, opened its doors wide to American investment in railroads, mining, agriculture, ranching, logging, manufacturing, public services, banking and the oil industry. In 1910, at the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution, American investment in Mexico was greater than that of all other countries combined... Read Full Article Here
Our California-Mexico Dreamers Successfully Returned to the U.S. after short study abroad program in Mexico
The California-Mexico Studies Center (CMSC) is pleased to announce that our Winter 2016 California-Mexico Dreamers Study Abroad Program successfully returned to the United States, despite being forced to enter the U.S. through Houston, Texas and then taking a connecting flight to the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).
Watch the following news reports from Telemundo and Univision regarding this group of students and also, check out the related articles and publications listed below in our Latest News section.
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Dreamers visitan el Instituto Nacional Electoral (INE)
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Our California-Mexico Dreamers also had the opportunity to visit the Instituto Nacional Electoral (INE) in Mexico City, where they learned about the benefits and rights of holding an INE credential card in Mexico and in the U.S.
The CMSC required all Winter 2016 California-Mexico Dreamers Study Abroad participants to acquire an INE credential before departing to Mexico, as a launching effort of a Dreamers INE Registration campaign the CMSC plans to implement and continue this year in preparation of the 2018 Mexican elections.
Watch the full video of the INE visit and the student exchange:
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