HispanicVista Columnists

Which Way Is The Breeze Blowing?

By Richard N. Baldwin T.

 While a lot of the world has been noting the "new face" on Washington diplomacy as noted before, more recent events should require us to keep our eyes open on this "new direction".

     First, there is the matter of the Vienna treaty that the United States signed which includes the right of arrested individuals from other countries to be able to contact their respective consulates for counsel. In a World Court ruling, it was found that a number of death row inmates in the US had never been given that right. And most of those individuals were on Texas death row. This is not surprising as Texas executes about one half of the total of all 50 states in the US. They run a very efficient death machine.

     President Bush responded by asking all of the states to review this prisoner right in all capital cases dealing with foreigners. But in the meantime, we note that the US is "withdrawing" from "certain portions" of that treaty. While the ruling on existing cases would stand, we now have to consider what will happen in future capital cases. Do I detect some backtracking here?

     To complicate matters, there is a division of powers between the federal and state powers here too.

     The Bush administration never signed on to the International Court treaty citing fears that US citizens might be subject to an international court that might not recognize their rights. But on the other hand, recognizing a right of prisoners to be able to get help from their governments from their embassies would seem to give US citizens' important rights also.

     I can understand frustration of the US in the International Court in their performance in the Slobodan Milosevic trial, that after three years seems to point to the accused mass murderer dying of old age before coming to a conclusion. But the Vienna treaty is an entirely a different matter. The US should be considering their citizens here. Or is it their desire to not interfere with the Texas death engine in the future?

     I note another columnist, Ruben Navarrette of the San Diego Union Tribune, that declares in a recent column that, "you don't even need to commit a crime to be on death row in Texas".

     Even more interesting is the loudly hailed tri-nation "summit" recently held at the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas. Shortly before this meeting, the new Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, visited the other heads of state. It seems that one of her biggest missions was to place certain subjects "off the table" of discussion. For Canada, it was a long running tariff dispute involving Canadian exports of lumber and beef. The Prime Minister did mention this in a press conference, but no real talking was done.

     Even bigger in the "forbidden" subjects was the immigration reform issue between México and the US. While Bush has stated a number of times that he favors a regularization of this issue, he is faced with a revolution in his own party.

     It is in the "hard-line right" that we find the people who prefer the situation to remain as it is. In other words, they like the chaos just like it is because it benefits certain interests in the US. And that is a shame. But this is where a lot of money rests.

     But we end up with probably the biggest issue that is screaming for solution being ignored. Crawford ended up as a nice photo op with smiling faces, but little else.

     While the tariff issue will be solved between the US and Canada, the immigration issue is a problem simply getting steadily bigger until someone gets hurt. We have gotten to the point that frustrated private citizens are now organizing themselves to take the law into their own hands because they feel that the federal government is not or not willing to do the job of policing the border. To be honest, I wouldn't want illegals from our south tramping across my property in Mexico either. But like many things in the US now, this issue is rapidly ramping out of control.

     The saddest thing is that there are so many ways that the México and the US could work together in what would be great benefits for both of our populations. If the US really wants to come out ahead in the "China war", the secret lies in México. But it requires resolution on both sides of the border.

     The US is going to have to not only set up a realistic immigration policy, but to enforce it . . .  across the board. And México must start really thinking about building a viable national market economy . . .  and quit using the northern "safety valve" to solve Mexican problems.

     But with both the US and México in full presidential campaign modes, it doesn't bode well.
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Richard N. Baldwin T., a HispanicVista.com (http://www.hispanicvista.com/) contributing columnist, lives in Tlalnepantla, Edo de México. E-mail at: R1041643422@aol.com