Mexico vs. Trump Requires Unity, Support to Address All of the Country's Problems Denise Dresser - Reforma
go to original January 31, 2017

On the day before his 77th birthday, Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim said he was celebrating, not his birth, but the unity of his country. (CNN/Bae-Videos)

There are calls for unity. Calls for patriotism. Calls to support Enrique Peña Nieto in these turbulent times unleashed by Donald Trump. Patriotic emblems are emerging, flags are being raised, and tempers are flaring everywhere. There is a clamor to join ranks like those magnates and monopolists are joining, in an effort to strengthen the country's position, given that the government is failing to do so. Press conferences and pronouncements and speeches are given that seek to "Make Mexico Great Again" based on nationalism [Carlos Slim, one of the world's wealthiest men, held such a press conference last week]. They are based on pretty words to face ugly realities. The reality of a threatened NAFTA, a soured bilateral relationship, a crazed neighbor. The dream of what America once was coming to an end. The forced "Mexit", happening without us being able to avoid it.

All of it, apparently, because of Trump. The one who must be criticized not only for his policies but for his temperament. The one who will have to be denounced and confronted day after day, equivocal decision after equivocal decision. Starting from the premise that "normalization" and appeasement will not work to stop a pathological narcissist who has endangered his country and the world. There will be no domestication possible; there will be no negotiation possible. Every one of his actions taken during the first days of his Presidency verifies it. Here is a dark, divisive, vindictive character. These are the likely outcomes: a constitutional crisis, a confronted American society, a collapse of international alliances. A posible removal from office.

And we will have to prepare for the uncertainty that comes with restraint, with patience, with vision. We will have to gather the best minds of Mexico and sit them at the table, because the situation is as serious as or worse than 1994. At that time, instability led to unity. Polarization led to negotiation. Gone were the partisan quarrels and the fights for power. It was more important to save Mexico than to fight to govern it. The founding pacts that made possible the democratic transition [in the 1980s and 90s, from the one-party rule of the PRI] came at the edge of the precipice. Today the circumstances are more pressing, more threatening. The danger is greater and the political class is worse.

These are times of definitions and tests. Times to discover who’s a patriot and who’s an opportunist. Because there are suggestions on what to do with Trump, many of them smart and valuable. Give him enough rope to hang himself, while Mexico seeks other markets, other treaties, and other partners. Allow the United States to pull out of NAFTA and follow WTO rules. Deny collaboration in security and the fight against drug trafficking in exchange for what we really want to preserve in our business relationship.

But what to do is linked to the type of country that we want to be: Either a country that is united around a model of economic development aimed at growing, competing, educating, transparency and democratizing. Or one that, for the sake of unity, recreates the historical pattern that always puts us in an unfavorable position.

Read the rest at Mexico Voices

Translated by Ruby Izar-Shea

Related: Vicente Fox: "Trump Has Brought Back a Very Strong Mexican Spirit" (Latina)

Related: What's Spanish for 'Bully?' Mexico Needs to Keep Saying 'No, Gracias' to Trump's Border Wall Demand: John Sigle ( PennLive)

Related: Mexican Lawmakers Grapple with Trump, and What Comes Next (NBC News)

Related: Mexican Leader Gets Small Boost from Trump Clash: Poll (Agence France-Presse)

Related: Mexico May Retaliate by Sending US All the Drugs, Says Former Foreign Minister (Deathandtaxes.com)

Related: Will Mexico Build a Wall on Its Southern Border and Make Trump Pay for It? Maybe. (The Weekly Standard)

Related: Trump’s Falsehoods Make Foreign Leaders Ask: Can We Trust Him? (Today Online)

Mexico Voices is a blogging endeavor aimed at raising the awareness of U.S. citizens regarding the destructive impact of the U.S. economic policy and the War on Drugs on Mexico - on its people, their economic and physical security and their human rights, on the nation’s dysfunctional justice system, and on the rule of law and Mexico’s fragile democracy. Visit the website at MexicoVoices.blogspot.mx

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