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FinalCall.com News
World News
Mexican analysts say Obama needs to take action
By Diego Cevallos
Updated May 11, 2009 - 2:44:56 PM
MEXICO CITY (IPS/GIN) - In his first visit as president to a Latin American country, President Barack Obama said that Mexico and the U.S. are united by common opportunities and challenges in trade, the environment and development of border areas, and urged the media not to focus just on drugs and immigration in the U.S.-Mexico relationship.
But activists and analysts from both countries told IPS there have been enough words and that it is time for concrete action from Washington.
The leaders met with the press after the welcome ceremony offered by host President Felipe Calderón at the presidential palace in Mexico City and a private meeting between the two of them.
Mr. Obama said he would push for immigration reform this year to legalize the estimated 12 million undocumented workers in the United States, seven million of whom are Mexicans—a longstanding Mexican demand.
He also said that for now, because of the economic crisis, he did not believe it was prudent to review the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)—one of his campaign pledges.
Mr. Obama's visit crowned a period of growing closeness between the two countries that had not been seen in decades. Mr. Calderón was the first foreign president to meet with Mr. Obama in Washington after the U.S. president-elect's victory.
And in March, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton visited Mexico, before U.S. Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano and Attorney General Eric Holder did in early April, to discuss cross-border cooperation on organized crime.
With respect to the fight against the drug cartels, President Obama said, “I will not pretend that this is Mexico's responsibility alone. Demand for these drugs in the United States is what's helping keep these cartels in business. ... More than 90 percent of the guns recovered in Mexico come from the United States, many of them from gun shops that line our shared border.”
He promised that his government would do much more to clamp down on the flow of weapons into Mexico, money laundering and domestic drug consumption.
But political scientist Daniel Blanco at the National Autonomous University of Mexico said, “We have heard so many words, new diplomatic stances and promises from Washington in the difficult, asymmetrical relationship with Mexico, although there have still been few concrete developments.”
“Obama's government is still young, but I think we have already heard enough; action is required now,” the analyst told IPS.
One of the concrete steps announced by the U.S. government was the naming of a special “border czar” to head its stepped-up efforts to crack down on drug-related violence along the nearly 2,000 miles of shared border between the two countries.
But the construction of the fence along the border—which Mr. Obama supported as senator—continues apace, as do immigration raids.
“It's true that Obama has a different discourse, but so far it's only words,” Jennifer Allen, director of the Border Action Network, a Tucson, Ariz.-based immigrant advocacy group, told IPS.
“In Obama's speeches and statements, we see clear changes with respect to his predecessor (George W.) Bush, especially on migration, which is our issue. But we are still waiting for concrete accomplishments,” said Ms. Allen.
Enrique Morones, founder of Border Angels, a humanitarian group whose aim is to reduce the number of heat- and cold-related deaths along the border, told IPS by telephone from San Diego, Calif., that Obama deserves his utmost confidence.
“We are giving him a year to demonstrate with actions what are now just words,” said the activist.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported more than 349,000 undocumented immigrants during fiscal year 2008, which ended Sept. 30—a 20 percent increase on the previous year.
Arturo López, head of the office of care for migrants in the city of Ecatepec, in the state of Mexico near the capital, said he saw no difference between Mr. Bush and Mr. Obama's migration policies.
“The discourse is similar,” he told IPS. “Bush reinforced the borders under the pretext of terrorism; Obama is doing so because of drug and weapons trafficking. Nothing has changed—immigrants are still the scapegoats.”
