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April 10, 2004
¡Si! People as
well as nations, age, but don't
necessarily grow wiser!
By Ricardo Castañón/HispanicVista.com
Regretfully, it seems the predominant
mentality in Mexico remains as it was in
the days of Cortez. We still look at
foreigners as demigods and bow in an
effort to please them.
As we all learned in the news, a group of
British tourists had been regularly
"visiting" the caverns in the
outskirts of Puebla. As it turned out to
be, they were not tourists at all. They
are an undercover team of military
scientists posing as sports fans with a
definite strategic purpose.
State of the art technology today, allows
supersensitive satellite equipment to
pinpoint areas underground where
minerals, oil, water or other resources
are located. These people knew, by this
and possibly other means, that there is a
rich deposit of some sort of an strategic
material in those caverns. They were not
about to share their knowledge with their
Mexican counterparts. They know that the
general Mexican psyche is still that of a
toddler.
In their last incursion into the caves,
they pretended to have been
"trapped" and needed help to
get out. Oddly enough, they refused the
assistance of the local rescue groups
that stood ready to provide it. (?) They
insisted in having their own fellow
British comrades come to get them. The
reason that comes to mind is obvious;
they found, and had samples they did NOT
want Mexico and Mexicans to know about.
By distributing these samples, readings,
information, or what ever among
themselves, they were able to smuggle
them out of there.
The Mexican media was only concern with
the superficial sensationalism of the
event. The Local, and even the State
governments were -as usual- more than
hospitable with the "tourists."
Under pressure from some conscientious
citizens, the federal government took up
an attitude of worn out pride and issued
a "Note of Protests" to the
British Ambassador. The note, no doubt
did not get any further than the
waste-basket.
What Mexican officials, with the typical
(now only allegorical)
"macho-genes" we brag so much
about should have done, was:
1) Have everyone, rescuers and rescues,
strip off their clothing and every thing
on them right as they stepped out of the
cave; at gunpoint if necessary. Provide
them with an overall and confine them to
individual rooms for x-rays and thorough
scanning for micro-chips, swallowed or
implanted. Then, undergo psychological,
military and scientific in depth
interrogations.
2) Their backpacks, outer-cloths, under
ware, shoes, watches, instruments,
etceteras, confiscated, carefully
enveloped and sent to the UNAM for
examination an analysis.
3) Arrest the whole group under charges
of conspiracy, illegal entry, and
whatever other violations Mexican law
dictates in such instances. Jail them
while the legal procedures get under way,
and not simply apply a monetary fine, but
demand compensation for all the trouble,
MOSTLY the offense Mexico has suffered in
the eyes of the world.
But no! What did Mexico do? As
soft-hearted as we are, we applauded the
fact that they got out OK. We admired
their "endurance." We even
provided them with free-escorted
transportation to the airport and it
would not surprise me if a Mariachi band
was there to
wish them farewell. ¡VIVA MEXICO!
Will we ever grow out of our infantile
mind set?
Pero... "No tiene la culpa el indio,
si no el qué lo hace COMPADRE!"
Verdad que... Si?
_________________________________________
Ricardo Castañón is a bilingual
essayist contributing weekly columns to
HispanicVista.com (www.hispanicvista.com).
Ricardo has authored an anthology
of motivational articles entitled
"XXI Century Nova Hispania"
Book information is available at www.IkarosPress.com
Ricardo is based in El Paso, TX He can be
reached at Rico@IkarosPress.com
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