It might be a little early to classify the Fox administration as in
its twilight but in fact, it has been fading away for some time. We should
be seeing some of the cabinet members resigning shortly to make their runs
for the next presidential election in 2006. Remember that if you are holding
an office here and want to run for another, you resign your present office
first. Not like in the US. In fact, the mayor of México City (López Obrador)
will resign his office at the end of July to make his run for the
presidency. The polls show him to be the big leader among all probable
candidates for the next president of México even after the Fox
administration tried their best to politically exterminate him.
But back to Fox. The latest flap is his statement that "Mexicans are
doing jobs in the US that even the blacks won't do". The italics are mine,
but the addition of that phrase clearly states that in the opinion of Fox,
the blacks are the lowest of the low in the US. And Fox, in his mentally
challenged political understanding, can't figure out why anybody was
offended.
Fox invited the Reverends Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton to come to
México for a "chat" about their objections to his statement. Both took him
up on that, Jackson first and then Sharpton. In the case of Jackson, as long
as Jessie can get to a microphone, he is happy, and he called the meting
"successful". Sharpton, on the other hand, is a far more formidable
opponent. He demanded an apology from Fox, but never got it. All Fox would
admit to was that he was "misinterpreted". As if you could interpret "even
the blacks" any other way. And Sharpton further states that every time that
Fox opens his mouth, the race spat gets worse. Fox still doesn't get it.
But how can we expect Fox to understand the basics of discrimination
when our own head of the National Commission of Human Rights bluntly decried
"official ineptitude" in the handling of the Juárez murders of over 350+
young women. And that office recently made a scathing report concerning
official disinterest on the plight of our native Indian class and women in
general here in México. Maybe we should add the fact that the policies of
our federal government are what are driving millions of Mexicans out of
their native country to make a living up north. But, I guess that Mr. Fox
likes the 20 billion dollars of "remittances" that these immigrants sending
home to their families this year here very much. In fact, if we were without
the remittances, México would be bankrupt overnight.
It should be noted that "minorities" in México are the reverse of the
US. Here, the minority (Indian) population vastly outnumbers our middle and
upper classes. Something to think about.
The Fox administration was offended at a statement to business and
government officials here from the US ambassador (Tony Garza) to México
regarding México's heavy dependence on oil (from our bankrupt state oil
company) and remittances from ex-pats is "simply not a viable economic
policy" for México. Good for Garza. But we are in denial here.
In regard to economic policy, it has been indicated by government
statistics that the only real increase in jobs for Mexicans in the Fox
administration has been in our "informal" market. This is the non-tax
paying/no benefits portion including street vendors and CD pirates. (And, of
course, the dope traffickers.) The "real" job market is, and has been for a
long time, stalled. The Mexican middle and lower classes have yet to even
catch up to what they were making in 1994. This is something to be proud of?
The federal government of this administration has failed to recognize a
total breakdown of national law and order in the Juárez murders. It was only
after such people as Jane Fonda demonstrated in Juárez that Fox sent a
couple of federal prosecutors to look into the situation. Sadly, he gave
them little power to do anything real. After uncovering a lot of evidence of
gross mishandling, malfeasance and cover-ups there, the investigation lapsed
into the old "we are investigating" game. As more and more demonstrations
are going on there, Fox is going to "look into the matter". His latest
response is to send 30 additional federal agents to Juárez. Looks good so
far, but most feel it is just another "lip service" to the real problem.
Maybe we need Jane Fonda down here again.
Fox claims that the federal government has no powers to interfere in
State and local matters. But as a Federal Republic (as México is), the
federal government always has the constitutional right to step into local
matters when the local law system breaks down. But it takes a certain degree
of courage that is lacking here to do that.
Fox recognizes that México's legal system is hopelessly out of date,
but he has shown little commitment (or knowledge) to really push for reform.
He has been good to sign nice treaties outlawing torture, discrimination and
injustice, but has done nothing to enforce these principles. More and more
international organizations keep making discouraging reports on the lack of
action in México. And Fox just submits these reports to Congress . . . and
walks away from them.
As México slips more and more into the backwash of "wannabe" countries
and depending on the migration "safety valve", it would seem that Fox has
been representing a small, but powerful fraction of our population (our
political elite) who like things just like they are.
One would hope that the next president of México would recognize this.
Let us all hope so.
_______________________________________________
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
By
Richard N. Baldwin T. /HispanicVista.com