Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

April 10, 2017 By Fausta

Mexico: Open-border agitprop at the NYT

agitprop

propaganda; especially : political propaganda promulgated chiefly in literature, drama, music, or art

Brace yourselves for the latest anti-American agitprop: The U.S. has three original sins: Slavery, racism, and “the aggression against Mexico and the plundering of its territory.” Because of that, all Mexicans should be free to live in the U.S., without restrictions.

Mexico’s most lionized historian, Enrique Krauze, says so.

The New York Times – partly-owned by Mexican billionaire, Carlos Slim – publishes him.

A lawsuit is being filed asking to nullify the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, since it was the result of America’s “first imperial war.”

Activists on both sides of the border are going to quote Krauze’s article as Gospel.

Krauze dictates,

Hollywood and Broadway, which have always played an important role in shaping the American historical consciousness, should take up the issue.

The article in question is Will Mexico Get Half of Its Territory Back? 

Like other upper-class, rich, Caucasian Mexican activists in the United States, Krauze wants an open border for Mexicans entering the U.S., the very same racist, aggressive, plundering country he derides:

For us Mexicans, this is the chance for a kind of reconquest. Surely not the physical reconquest of the territories that once were ours. Nor an indemnification that should have been much greater than the feeble amount of $15 million that the American government paid, in installments, for the stolen land. We need a reconquest of the memory of that war so prodigal in atrocities inspired by racial prejudices and greed for territorial gain.

But the best and most just reparation would be American immigration reform that could open the road to citizenship for the descendants of those Mexicans who suffered the unjust loss of half their territory.

Never mind that an original sin is a hereditary stain with which we are born on account of our origin and the United States declared its independence in 1776, over seventy years prior to the period Krauze refers to in his article.

Here are a few facts:

  1. Texas declared independence from Mexico in 1836. Mexico ignored it.
  2. Mexico lost a war against Texas in 1836.
  3. From a friend’s Facebook page (emphasis added): “The Mexican state chose the worst possible paths for itself in the decade from 1836 to 1846: it repudiated the recognition of Texas independence and entered into a state of endemic warfare against that republic, but failed to exert itself sufficiently to conclude the matter; it failed to act diplomatically to preclude the American annexation of Texas, which it could likely have achieved with appropriate and timely guarantees and recognition; following that annexation, it deliberately chose a confrontation that it knew would lead to an unwinnable war with the United States; and having made that choice, it elected to confront the American army in the Nueces Strip with insufficient forces under General Arista that were rapidly dispersed, leaving northern Mexico proper open to invasion. The Mexican state across that decade consistently and consciously chose war, every single time, and eventually paid the price attendant to that. (And not just vis a vis Texas and the United States: the Mexican state’s brutal suppression of the Yucatán, the short-lived Republic of the Rio Grande, and many other secessionist or autonomist movements all testify to an institutionalized reflex toward maximal violence.) You can see the de-escalation off-ramps available to Mexico at nearly every point above: it could have chosen to honor the initial recognition of Texas independence; it could have devoted sufficient forces to the reconquest of Texas in the late 1830s, before American intervention was probable; it could have exercised prudence and made peace with Texas in exchange for no American annexation; or it could have refrained from a confrontation in the Nueces Strip that it knew would result in a suicidal war against American power. Mexico wasn’t a victim of the United States in 1846-1848: Mexico was a victim of the admixture of Mexican belligerence and incompetence.”
  4. The vast majority of Mexicans elected to remain in the annexed territories.

Timothy Henderson makes the case that the Mexican ruling class knew they would most likely lose the 1846-1848 war in his book, A Glorious Defeat: Mexico and Its War with the United States

The war that was fought between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848 was a major event in the history of both countries: it cost Mexico half of its national territory, opened western North America to U.S. expansion, and brought to the surface a host of tensions that led to devastating civil wars in both countries. Among generations of Latin Americans, it helped to cement the image of the United States as an arrogant, aggressive, and imperialist nation, poisoning relations between a young America and its southern neighbors.

In contrast to many current books, which treat the war as a fundamentally American experience, Timothy J. Henderson’s A Glorious Defeat offers a fresh perspective by looking closely at the Mexican side of the equation. He examines the tremendous inequalities of Mexican society and provides a greater understanding of the intense factionalism and political paralysis leading up to and through the war. Also touching on a range of topics from culture and ethnicity to religion and geography, this comprehensive yet concise narrative humanizes the conflict and serves as the perfect introduction for new readers of Mexican history.

Why now?

“Facing Trump, can we reclaim the territories stolen in the 1847 invasion?”

Frente a Trump, podemos reclamar los territorios robados en la invasión de 1847? https://t.co/NjK5EcX1yq

— Enrique Krauze (@EnriqueKrauze) April 6, 2017

And don’t forget, While Mexico’s oil industry generated US$18.7 billion and tourism $17 billion in 2016, remittances reached $27 billion. 95% of those remittances come from the U.S.

The U.S. owes Mexico absolutely nothing.

A question: If Mexico wants to bring up restitution for “atrocities inspired by racial prejudices,” are they willing to give restitution to the Catholic Church and the descendants of the cristeros mercilessly slaughtered ninety years ago by Mexican government anti-Christian prejudices?

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Filed Under: Fausta's blog, Mexico, politics, propaganda Tagged With: Enrique Krauze

February 13, 2017 By Fausta

Mexico: Demonstrators want respect

Headline from El País:
Mexicans take to the streets to protest against Donald Trump. Non-partisan demonstrations throughout the country bring thousands out to demand “respect” and “dignity”

Marchers demanded “respect” and “dignity” from Trump and his government, with an estimated 20,000 people pouring onto the streets of Mexico City, with students from the capital’s UNAM state university joining in protest for the first time since 1968, when dozens were killed and injured in demonstrations. Among the intellectuals at the march were Enrique Graue, Enrique Krauze, Héctor Aguilar Camín, and Enrique Ochoa, presidents of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

Mexico’s ruling class has ignored the plight of the rest of the country for as long as Mexico has been a country, and I include the period where Mexico was under the French. I have said before, for decades Mexico has not even protected its own citizens from the cartels’ deadly human trafficking business; Jason Poblete writes,

Mexico and other Central American nations need to get serious about border security within their region, as well as fixing the primary reason people try to leave: poverty and lack of economic opportunities, as well as rampant corruption and crime, lack of rule of law, among many other indicators that make life tough in these countries. This latter issue is a more long-term issue (one that the U.S. companies can help with), but border security within Central America can start today.

Ricardo Valenzuela agrees [my translation]

Our anguish at Trump ought to be an opportunity, and, rather than continue riding this mass hysteria, let’s change our attitudes, let’s focus on identifying this chance that the event presents, and which we are not seeing. We are enraged that Trump threatens to deport millions of our countrymen. Let’s identify the real problem. Why did those millions were expelled by Mexico? Trump wants to build a wall. How come tons of drugs cross the border each year? Why are millions of young girls kidnapped by the same mafias who, after getting them across illegally sell them to the sex traders? Why has the border become a war zone where weapons and illegal money are exchanged, and even ISIS members are crossing?

Lest we forget,

Mexico had a major role in fostering guerrilla groups in Central America during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, backing off only when it became a hindrance to the NAFTA deal with the United States, and when some of the groups began operating in Mexico. Mexico is feared and resented throughout Central America as a bully and for its mistreatment of Central American migrants. The horror stories these migrants tell of their passage through Mexico are hair-raising and heartbreaking.

Peña Nieto’s popularity plummeted (and has not recovered) following the 2014 disappearance of 43 student teachers killed in Guerrero, a crime yet not resolved. The remains of only one student have been identified. In Mexico,

Only 4.5% of reported crimes in Mexico are ever investigated and just 1% ever go before a judge, according to a recent study by Mexico’s National Autonomous University. The criminal conviction rate in Mexico is 1.8%.

Headline from the WSJ:
Thousands March in Mexico City to Protest Trump, Peña-Nieto

Thousands took to Mexico City’s central thoroughfare to protest U.S. President Donald Trump and his plans to build a 2,000-mile border wall, while also blasting Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and the ruling PRI party.

Meanwhile, Andrés Manuel López Obrador gains in polls amid backlash against new U.S. administration, because electing a far-left candidate and blaming the U.S. has worked so well elsewhere.

Again: Respect is earned. When Mexico and the Central American countries stop seeing the U.S. as a pressure-release valve for their own countries’ problems, they won’t need to be asking for respect, they will be earning it.

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Filed Under: immigration, Mexico Tagged With: #Ayotzinapa, Donald Trump, Enrique Krauze, Enrique Peña Nieto, Fausta's blog

December 12, 2013 By Fausta

Mexico: A house divided

Enrique Krauze has an interesting op-ed in the NYTimes, The Danger in Mexico’s Divided House

In the end, however, Mexico’s old model of governance was brought down not by economic liberalism but by the rise of democracy. First, in 2000, the president as monarch vanished from the scene. The legislature became a genuinely multiparty body, and the Supreme Court far more independent. Free elections were overseen by an entity independent from the government.

Still, those interest groups that had long been dependent on and controlled by the presidency did not exit the scene. On the contrary, they grew dangerously stronger, each trying to secure a place at the center of power. Three of the major reforms proposed by Peña Nieto’s government aim to limit their influence.

Read the full article.

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Filed Under: Mexico, NYT, politics Tagged With: Enrique Krauze, Fausta's blog

November 3, 2013 By Fausta

Mexico: Enrique Krauze on oil reform

20131008_185948

Mexican historian Enrique Krauze has a must-read op-ed in the NY Times,
Mexico’s Theology of Oil

Over the next few weeks, the Mexican Congress is likely to become a kind of theological council to discuss the so-called Energy Reform proposal put forward by President Enrique Peña Nieto. The measure would modify Articles 27 and 28 of the Constitution and allow contracts between the Mexican government and private companies to share profits from the extraction of oil and gas throughout the country as well as deep-water sites in the Gulf of Mexico. It would also open the door to free competition along the whole chain of the industry: refining, transport, storage, distribution and basic petrochemicals.

The historical significance of this proposal cannot be understated. In 1938, the Mexican oil industry was nationalized, and in 1960, a constitutional change assigned full control of the industry to Pemex, a state monopoly.

Krauze asks, “Why can’t Mexico, like Brazil or Norway, develop its publicly owned oil company into an enterprise that can successfully benefit from association or competition with private companies?”

He lists three reasons:

  • The controversial record of privatization in Mexico,
  • nationalism,
  • and a seldom-mentioned, but perhaps most powerful reason of all,
  • the fear that increased oil revenue will simply raise the level of corruption to the point reached during Mexico’s last oil boom, which began in the late 1970s and led to a traumatic experience for the Mexican people.

Read the full article here.


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Filed Under: Mexico, NYT, oil Tagged With: Enrique Krauze, Fausta's blog

October 9, 2013 By Fausta

Last night at PU: Krauze and Vargas Llosa, the two giants

Imagine the two foremost figures of Latin American letters having a conversation on the politics of the region, and you being able to listen. Well, that was the scene last night at 50 McCosh on the Princeton University campus.

20131008_185948

Nobel Prize for Literature Mario Vargas Llosa conversed with historian Enrique Krauze Kleinbort in front of a standing-room-only audience. The two gentlemen spoke about Peru, Mexico, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Cuba, among other countries. The Daily Princetonian reports,

“Latin America is improving. We have more democracy; we have large consensus on what kind of economic policies we need to develop and become modern and successfully fight poverty,” Vargas Llosa said, adding that the transformation of most Latin American nations in recent years has been formidable. “Poverty has diminished; in statistical terms, the poverty level is still large, but the way which the middle classes have been grown in the country is fantastic.”

Vargas Llosa cited Uruguay’s economic success as a model for the rest of Latin America. He said that the country has seen very liberal social reforms, including gay marriage and gay rights. “Not liberal in the American sense,” he added to the audience’s laughter.

More importantly, Vargas Llosa enumerated, Uruguay has respected its constitution, has independent strong institutions, observes the rule of law and welcomes foreign investment.

Krauze is not as optimistic on Mexico, pointing out the country’s recent lack of economic growth and the absence of a moderate left.

I had the pleasure of asking what the Pacific Alliance may mean for the hemisphere . Vargas Llosa said it will be the only alliance that will endure; Krauze pointed out “best yet, like the name says, it’s pacific”.

It was a splendid evening, bringing many insights from two of the greatest minds in the contemporary world.


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Filed Under: economics, Mario Vargas Llosa, Mexico, news, Pacific Alliance, politics Tagged With: Enrique Krauze, Fausta's blog

August 13, 2013 By Fausta

Mexico: Oil industry overhaul?

If Mexico really makes significant improvement, it will reverse the decline in oil production, says Liam Denning:

Mexico Moves to Overhaul Oil Industry
Bill to End State Monopoly Would Open Vast Offshore Fields to Energy Giants

The Mexican bill, which is likely to get congressional approval but could cause a firestorm among nationalistic politicians and the public, marks a watershed moment for a country that was in 1938 the first big oil producer to nationalize its oil industry—a move followed by other developing nations in the following decades. Mexico has among the world’s most restrictive energy laws, comparable to Kuwait’s; even Cuba’s are more liberal.

“If Mexico passes this bill, and we have peace in the streets, then the country will make an important leap forward,” said Enrique Krauze, a prominent Mexican historian.

Mexican officials hope the initiative, the biggest potential overhaul to the economy since the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, will spur economic growth by attracting billions of dollars in investment, improve competitiveness by lowering energy prices for manufacturers and spotlight Mexico as a rising power as other big emerging markets struggle.

The proposal

doesn’t, for instance, give private oil companies outright ownership of oil fields via concessions. And Mr. Peña Nieto said the government won’t give oil firms a share of the oil, but rather the cash equivalent of the oil they find and produce.

and Mexico will probably limit the number of foreign oil companies it will allow to participate.

It’ll be interesting to see the reaction from the labor unions, the nationalists, and the beneficiaries of Pemex cronyism.

Then, in the longer term, is the question of whether future Mexican government administrations wouldn’t nationalize whatever the foreign companies have.

Related, also at the WSJ, Q&A: What Does Mexico Oil Reform Mean for Consumers, Companies?
Why loosen up now, and what will it mean at the pump?

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Filed Under: Mexico, news, oil Tagged With: Enrique Krauze, Fausta's blog

June 1, 2009 By Fausta

Today’s 15 Minutes on Latin America: Chavez chickens out

In today’s podcast at 11AM Eastern, not only did Chávez chicken out from debating Jorge Castañeda, Mario Vargas Llosa, and Enrique Krauze, he cancelled his Alo Presidente show Saturday and Sunday.

Bolivia’s Evo Morales, who was scheduled to be his Sunday show guest and then travel with Chávez to Mauricio Funes’s inauguration in El Salvador, decided to stay put after all.

Chat’s open at 10:45AM and all podcasts are archived for your convenience.

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Filed Under: Blog Talk Radio, Evo Morales, Hugo Chavez, Mario Vargas Llosa, Venezuela Tagged With: Enrique Krauze, Fausta's blog

May 31, 2009 By Fausta

Venezuela: Chavez’s Persecution, and No Debate

VENEZUELA-FORUM-VARGAS LLOSA

My latest article, Venezuela: Chávez’s Persecution, and No Debate, is up at Real Clear World Please read it and leave a comment.

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Filed Under: Communism, Hugo Chavez, Mario Vargas Llosa, Venezuela Tagged With: Álvaro Vargas Llosa, Cedice, Enrique Krauze, Fausta's blog

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