As the ghastly spectacle unfolded -- the flooded city, the floating corpses, the displaced people pouring into Texas, the bungled Bush administration response -- the government of Mexico launched a huge relief operation consisting of Mexican army units delivering and distributing tons of food and supplies to destitute refugees near San Antonio, plus two Mexican navy ships sent to New Orleans to help with the clean-up operation. Even in the richest country on Earth, it can happen that a disaster is so overwhelming that outside help is needed -- and our neighbor to the south, whose border is not far from where the displaced persons had mostly ended up, rose to the occasion.
Yes, that Mexico, the same country Donald Trump has lately been endlessly insulting and threatening in order to whip up the knuckle-draggers of the Republican base.
You can read about it here (found via The Moderate Voice and Fair and Unbalanced), in the words of a senior US diplomat stationed in Mexico City at the time.
This followed on the American assistance offered to Mexico after the great Mexico City earthquake of 1985, twenty years earlier. After the squalid episodes of territorial aggression which marked the early period of US-Mexican relations, such cases of mutual aid in times of need have started to build a better relationship between our country and a rising power of growing importance to our economy.
Unless, of course, we allow the know-nothing followers of a demagogic fool to throw it all away and start a new cold war (and trade war) right within the North American continent.
Good read that I really didnt know too much about Mexico's involvement as far as relief ... all I recall is Bush freaking out saying there was chaos, robbery, rape and murder and time to send in the troops to N.O., heh, heh, heh, heh, heh {:-) I also question the future of the Crescent City in future hurricanes, been reading and viewing some stuff about how vulnerable it still is unless big bucks are spent ... some folks asking the oil giants to help pay the bill (they're tightwad's ... maybe if we subsidize the oil giants with billions in tax subsidies they may use some of that, eh? {:-) But you know, Mexico get's more negative publicity than anything these dayz and are alwayz the scapegoat with a bad rap, when people get angry .... "IT'S ALL THE MEXICAN'S FAULT!!" ... good thing we dont border with a country like Iran ... we would be in another bloody war then! {:-)
ReplyDeleteMy daughter's soon to be husband, even though his work and residence is in Dallas, he own's like a 100 acre ranch with 3 homes on it about 50km outside Monterrey in some mountain area (he inherited), he told me "any time Tom you want to use it, it's yours" ... only 1 house is occupied on it, with ranch hands that he hires to live there and keep up the ranch and homes ... good enough reason to marry my daughter! {:-) Later Infidel ....
Yes, the ignorance of people has consequences. Most people here seem to know nothing about Mexico except the bad things, and a demagogue like Trump can capitalize on that.
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