"Pity poor Mexico, so far from Israel, so close to the United States."

[go west young man]

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=18c55c46781cf1b3

[msongs]

1. being close to the United States is a blessing for Mexico....

otherwise there would be no place to export its population for work to send back money to support the corrupt social, political, economic, and religious society it has. Just imagine if Mexico was next to a nation that had NO jobs to offer.

Msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm

[Gman]

5. Like Guatamala or El Salvador?

We're seeing a lot of people (illegal) here in S Texas that are from Central America. They just have farther to go.

[Say_What]

12. I heard an interview a while back on KPFA and it's the remittances

from family members that keep the Salvadoran economy afloat but just barely. Here's an article from last year by someone who lives there.

<clips>

...Foreign loans are only a piece of the life preserver momentarily keeping El Salvador's economy afloat. The real mainstay of the Salvadoran economy-remittances from Salvadorans living and working abroad-has nothing to do with macro-solutions. As Salvadorans face an ever shrinking labor market, more and more see emigration to the United States as the only option for their family's survival. Current estimates are of between two and a half and three million Salvadorans living abroad, primarily in the U.S., while six million Salvadoran remain at home. Approximately 600-700 Salvadorans leave each day for the United States.

Salvadorans working abroad are constantly sending more and more money back to their families in El Salvador, most of which is spent on basic things like food, education, and clothing. In 2004 Salvadorans sent 2.5 billion dollars to El Salvador, significantly more than in 2003. Instead of being concerned about the dependence on this large quantity of money-remittances as a percentage of the gross domestic product in El Salvador are one of the highest in the world-conservative Salvadoran politicians and their backers in the financial sector support emigration. They see it not only as an economic escape valve, but also as a source of profits; banks skim off large percentages in service charges for wiring money from the U.S. to El Salvador. Remittances are so much a part of the economic reality for Salvadorans that one can wait many hours in line at banks around the first of the month, as hundreds of people line up to withdraw the money their families have sent. Of course, with the dramatic rise in the cost of living, remittances also don't cover as much as they used to. Thus, the strain of the economic crisis is felt not only by those living in El Salvador, but also by Salvadorans working in the U.S., who now must send more money to cover their families' needs.

While the cost of living and remittances continue rising in El Salvador, its economic growth in 2004-estimated between 1.3 and 1.8 percent-was the lowest in Central America and the second lowest in all of Latin America, higher only than Haiti. As all economic indicators point toward further economic crisis in El Salvador, and possibly an economic collapse, people are making alarming predictions. FMLN deputy, Salvador Arias, El Salvador's 2001 Economist of the Year, has been warning about the coming economic crisis for years. Yet as the situation gets worse and ARENA shows no willingness to discuss proposals for changing course, he and others are comparing El Salvador's current situation to the months leading up to Argentina's economic collapse in December 2001.

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Central_America/ElSalvador_EconCollapse.html

El Salvador 2006

In short, El Salvador is a broken country.

Murder rates are the highest in the hemisphere.

Poverty is institutionalized.

The environment is degraded badly.

The political climate is polarized.

The economy is predatory in its avarice.

And the average person is trying to get out.


Urban poverty, San Salvador, El Salvador

[Say_What]

13. After thought...

Isn't it always amazing how the USSA always crows about *democracy* in Central America? Dickless Cheney mentioned it during election season debates saying it is a *success in democracy and compared it to El Salvador in the 1980s.* Oh yeah, look at how wonderful things are in El Salvador. RayGun's scorched earth policy really brought *democracy* to El Salvado: :puke:

El Salvador 2006

...CAFTA codifies the exploitation. It is not just an economic treaty, but is also a political instrument with great reach. It is constructed to protect corporate interests related to the national security of the United States. Under CAFTA, Central American governments support the war in Iraq, and El Salvador actually has troops in Iraq, unique to Latin America. El Salvador is totally obedient to the United States, and CAFTA is an instrument of annexation that determines public policies and violates the Salvadoran constitution. As Raul Moreno, Professor of Economics at the University of El Salvador, and a leader in Sinti Techan, the Citizen Network on Commerce and Investment, stated, "The liver of CAFTA is investments ­ it has no heart. There is no regulation on foreign investment. Under it, investment is all, debt investment, maquila investment, public service exploitation, food, gas, healthcare, investment beyond regulation, and there are mechanisms to guarantee profits."

In short, El Salvador is a broken country. Murder rates are the highest in the hemisphere, poverty is institutionalized, the environment is degraded badly, the political climate is polarized, the economy is predatory in its avarice, and the average person is trying to get out. I heard the phrase "ungovernable" many times. This is the backdrop before which the 2006 elections were held in El Salvador.

Election day in Jutiapa brought a grand influx of people to the small town. Soon after the 7:30 AM opening of the polls, there were hundreds of people in the small school that was being used as the Center of Voting. Long lines snaked through the uneven grounds leading to the eleven tables where the Juntas Receptoras de Votos checked people's identification, handed out the paper ballots containing the symbols of the six parties, which were deposited in the cardboard "urnas" after the voter crossed out with a crayon his party of choice. The voting was heavy throughout the hot bright day.

http://www.counterpunch.org/deraymond03232006.html


Two teenage sisters killed by the death squad.

[Judi Lynn]

6. There are reasons why Mexicans can't find work at home, starting with

economic sabotage like CAFTA, which has driven poor Mexican farmers out of their generations-old farms and homes, completely devastated by the U.S. dumping taxpayer-subsidized crops in Mexico at prices far cheaper than the ones at which small Mexican farmers can sell their own crops and break even.

We wipe out their only means of income, they have NO WHERE to find work at home, and the U.S. consumers are the beneficiaries of their extremely cheap labor on the farms and certain industries here.

[enid602]

7. Clinton

Don't forget too when Clinton (in the late '90's) wanted to help out Mexico by guaranteeing a $20B debt that Mexico was about to default on to the IMF. Congreesional RW'ers (lead by Jesse Helms) ultimately approved this act of trans-border cooperation, but only after insisting that the Mexican Government agree to affect massive cuts in aid to the poor, and privatize their economy. The result of these actions has been the creation of dozens of Mexican billionaires, and the disappearance of the Mexican social safety net.

[Judi Lynn]

8. Thanks for the info. on the CAFTA conditions arranged by our right-wing

legislators. I wasn't paying close enough attention then, as I see now, to have missed these hideous intrusions of U.S. right-wing will into Mexico's internal structure. That's really low.

God knows how long it will take Mexico to regain that ground lost to our idiot sociopaths.



Momma didn't raise this fool right.

[Akim]

9. Just imagine if the U.S. was next to a nation without exportable slaves?

A

[Akim]

10. Americans would have to pick their own lettuce and wipe the asses of ...

their parents in nursing homes.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Beautiful! It's a BIG article.

Snips:

Occasionally commentators who celebrated Ukrainians blocking the main thoroughfares of Kiev condescend to jeer at Mexico's sore losers and complain that businessmen are missing deadlines because dead-enders with nothing better to do are holding up the traffic. Ukraine's Viktor Yushchenko was decisive when he declared himself president, but isn't Lopez Obrador a demagogue for doing the same?
(snip)

The days of leftwing fraternalism may be over, but the globalist right has its own network, linking the Spanish conservatives, American Republicans and Calder n's Pan party - and they provided the key observer. To paraphrase Stalin: 'It doesn't matter who votes, it matters who observes the vote.'
(snip)

But Mexico is different because it is so under-reported. The cruel reality is that 'people power' has become a global brand. But like so many global brands it is owned by Americans. Mexicans and any other 'populists' who try to copy it should beware that they're infringing a copyright. No matter how many protesters swarm through Mexico City or how long they protest, it is George Bush and co who decide which people truly represent The People. People power turns out to be about politics, not arithmetic.
(snip)

Amen! Thank you, go west young man!

[MisterP]

4. no NED stamp of approval on El Peje (AMLO)

[riverwalker]

3. excellent n/t

[Akim]

11. It was Mexican President Don Porfirio Diaz who first said:

"Pity poor Mexico, so far from God and so close to the United States."

Don Porfirio was alluding, of course, to the U.S. propensity to invade Mexico and steal its land: the same land it now wants to enclose with an electrified fence.