From Xico

Coffee, Coffee Growers and Monsanto, too

Today an interesting juxtaposition of two articles which appeared in La Alta Voz, the local weekly which covers Coatepec, Teocelo, Xico and some other nearby towns.  This has to do with coffee farmers and farms.  

The first, by Omar Madrigal:

Coffee Farmers Demonstrate in Plaza Lerdo [Plaza Lerdo is the central park/square of Coatepec, right in front of the City Hall.]

This past April 12, around 1500 coffee farmers from the areas of Xico, Cosautlán, Emiliano Zapata, Teocelo, Xalapa, Tepetlán, Pinoltepec, El Haya and municipios in the region of Huatusco gathered to renew their recognition of Emiliano Zapata as the gretest spirutual guide in the fight of campesinos, today not to gain the land, but to gain better conditions for production.

....

Among the eight demands ... of the producers...we wil mention two here which were presented as urgent:

    1. The immediate delivery of resources from the Program for the Productive Promotion of Coffee for 2010.

    2. That the state government distribute in an urgent manner the fertilliers which have to be used in this production cycle.

Both demands are due to the necessity of beginning the work of cultivating the coffee fields now so that they give better fruit in the present cycle. ...

[There were some claims that the demonstrators lacked their leaders by the government representatives which were resolved but which led to delays, and then the government representatives said they couldn't themselves do anything, but would have to forward the demands.]

Finally, [it was resolved] that both demands would be met by April 30 or the coffee growers' organization would block highways and important streets in Xalapa as a way of pressing for action.

Why the US Should Give Aid to Mexico (as should multinational corporations)

The US and multinational corporations have benefitted on the backs of Mexicans...and not just on their backs, but by completely exploitative methods of making money from Mexican people and Mexican resources: from trade agreements which do little for Mexican working people, especially in agriculture, and much for the US, from unfair trade practices which undermine the internal Mexican agricultural economy, from industrial practices both in manufacturing machines and cars, etc, and animals which pollute Mexican air, land and water and which not only kill Mexican jobs but break up Mexican families and society by forcing internal as well as external migration for the few new jobs they offer which certainly don't compensate as such jobs do in the US, for failing to contribute to Mexican society and education, etc. etc.

If the US didn't pretend it was anything but a greedy empire, one could bemoan the situation without expecting redress, but the US pretends it is fair and just and democratic.  It owes Mexico reparations.

Much of the southwest US also WAS Mexico, and many people there of Mexican and Spanish heritage were there a long time before any Anglos were.  They have ties across the border which have grown with time.  Mexicans who have migrated legally more recently also have ties across the border.  

Undocumented Mexicans as has been said frequently come to do jobs that are available to them and not generally wanted by others.  This is also an exploitative situation, doubly so because it is so very hard to get one of the very limited legal visas for blue collar and agricultural work in the US.

I can't speak for Mexicans, but I suspect that many stay because of the difficulty of going to and from home. Many find themselves with second families...and why wouldn't they?  IT is hard to find yourself in a foreign environment without social ties. I don't suspect that they have the dream of American citizenship Americans think they have: that is, with fair treatment including the right to working people's benefits and the ability to go back and forth across La Frontera, most probably wouldn't seek citizenship. Working people's benefits would also legitimize their presence and give them credit for taxes paid ... which many now pay even as illegals.

Aid should be given to Mexico NOT to make it a fertile place for US investment but to help Mexico in a way that keeps things Mexican. Aid maybe should be thought of as reparations.

Arizona and China: Compare and Contrast - Politics - The Atlantic

Arizona and China: Compare and Contrast - Politics - The Atlantic

Some takes on the Arizona law from James Fallows and a couple of his readers. You can follow the link in the first paragraph to find the post provoking this one.

Fallows is one of my all time favorite journalists.

The Curious Politics of Immigration - Paul Krugman Blog - NYTimes.com

Democrats are torn individually (a state I share). On one side, they favor helping those in need, which inclines them to look sympathetically on immigrants; plus they’re relatively open to a multicultural, multiracial society. I know that when I look at today’s Mexicans and Central Americans, they seem to me fundamentally the same as my grandparents seeking a better life in America. 

Read more...via krugman.blogs.nytimes.com

Also read the first two comments.

Basically, US immigration debates lack a broader context. First of all, immigrants go to the US because of non-existent or way-to-low-paying jobs here, and the US has to take some responsibility (along with multinational corporations and, yes, Mexican elites) for that state of affairs.  

Second, by focusing so single-mindedly on the narco war, the US is not only not doing anything to help, but is actually exacerbating problems.Money to boost Mexican infrastructure, education in areas that it is lacking(e.g. access to and training in use of computers and the internet skills, aid in areas that would improve/restore food self-sufficiency, investment in small local businesses, etc., would be beneficial, if given in the context of the Mexican point of view.  I believe this is what the European Union did for Spain and perhaps Portugal in order to bring them to the point where all concerned would benefit from their entry into the EU.

Third, Americans operate in the context that all Mexicans WANT to migrate to the US and somehow if we opened the borders 100 million Mexicans would suddenly appear on US doorsteps.  That won't happen.  Even without an improvement in Mexican circumstances, most Mexicans who do go to the US go to work, not to become US citizens.  If they could move more easily between countries, they'd come home more often.  Many wouldn't go at all if they could make a decent living here, particularly in agricultural areas.

Fourth, regarding health care: There is more accessible, and I would argue in many ways better and more affordable health care available here for middle-class and higher income Mexicans than there is in the US. In fact for Mexicans who work in the formal economy there is a good government program. Problems among the poor center on the cost of medications because basic clinic and hospital services are available. This is another area where assistance might be welcome.

Improvement in Mexico's circumstances, but NOT according to US interpretation of need, but rather MEXICAN interpretation of need, would do wonders for both countries.

Arizona Law SB-1070 and EVERYONE IN ARIZONA WHO LOOKS A BIT, UM, DARK

I'll respond today or tomorrow to comments on this.  Today, I just want to emphasize something.

What if you're a CITIZEN of the US not carrying papers identifying yourself as such? You can ALSO be stopped and PUT IN JAIL. You probably will assume this won't happen to you if you are blond, but don't be so sure if you are not.

And what if you just happen to be annoying to someone..they don't like what you're wearing or saying or the way you're walking or that you're a teenager.  They can claim they suspect you're not a citizen. 

The US is NOT supposed to require that people carry ID proving they are citizens!  

This is not just anti-immigrant, it is clearly racial profiling of the worst sort.

More American Expatriates Give Up Citizenship - NYTimes.com

More American Expatriates Give Up Citizenship - NYTimes.com

Pretty interesting!  

I Stand Seriously Corrected: Brazil vs. Mexico -- population

MAJOR CORRECTION to post on The Embassy Guy: Brazil definitely does NOT have a smaller population than MExico. It has the biggest population in Latin America. estimated at 178,470,000 people with 20 people per sq. km. The population is concentrated along the coast with the greatest density in the southeast. 81% of the population live in urban areas, with Sao Paolo having 17+ million peopple, Rio de Janeiro having 10 1/2 million, five more cities having over 3 million, and five cities having between 1 and 2 1/2 million people. The interior of the country is indeed sparsely populated.
Mexico with an approximate population of 105,000,000 is the eleventh most populous country in the world. It is, overall, considerably more densely populated than Brazil with 52 people per square kilometer. In Mexico, 74% of the population lives in urban areas. AND Mexico is the most populous SPANISH speaking country in the world.

With embarassed thanks to my friend Scott for pointing this out. 

Arizona Law SB-1070: Some Mexican Perspective

So put the shoe on the other foot.  There ARE USAers living illegally in Mexico. They are violating Mexican law to do it.  Sometimes they are earning money illegally. They are benefitting by being in Mexico.  So a law is passed saying local law enforcement can stop anyone who doesn't look Mexican and demand to see their papers. Then they can throw the person in jail if said person isn't carrying papers documenting their legal presence.  A lot of us who live here on a permanent basis sure don't carry around papers saying we're here legally even when we are, and obviously people here illegally don't either.  So you're on line at the checkout counter at Chedraui, the local supermarket or enjoying a pizza at Roma Pizzeria or picking out good avocadoes at the market or filling your gas tank or talking to your neighbor in the street or....whatever, and a local cop comes over and demands papers and then just takes you off to jail if you can't immediately provide them.  No fun. But justified anger at the Arizona law is such that I wouldn't particularly blame local Mexican cops if they started to do just that in retaliation.  I kind of doubt they would, or if they did, they'd probably be polite about it, but not in the USA.

Here's an article from today's La Jornada on the Arizona law, my translation:

Legislators from the PRI [political party] and the PRD [political party]  Demand Calderon Adopt an Energetic Stance against Arizona's Anti-immigrant Law

Carlos Jiménes and Graco Ramírez fear that similar acts will spread across the US.

By Andrea Becerril andRoberto Garduño

Sunday, April 25th 2010

Senators and deputies of the PRI and the PRD asked that the Mexican government adopt a firm and energetic position towards the US government in order to  protect Mexican migrants, facing treatment as criminals in Arizona, because of Law SM 1070.

The president of the Human Rights Commissiono of the Chamber of Debuties, Rubén Moreira, announced that he will travel to Arizona to show solidarity with Mexicans who live there, and demanded that President Calderón make clear Mexican objections.

Senators Carlos Jiménez Macias of the PRI and Graco Ramírez of the PRD think that the legislation may be stopped by the Supreme Court of the United States according to what President Barack Obama himself said, but this process might take as long as ten months, time in which Mexican workers can become victims of the xenophobic, racist, and antimmigrant climate that thrives in Arizona.

Both agreed that the motivation of this new law is electoral, since both the governor, Jan Brewer, and the Republican legislators, including Senator John McCain who promoted it, want to look good to the electorate and be re-elected.

The risk lies not only the contents of this law... but also in the fact that it could enable the intensification of action of groups like the Minute Man Project, dedicated to the persecution of Mexicans and Latinos in general who seek employment in US territory.

....

It is worrisome, stressed Senator Ramírez, that local and state police who have not had training in migratory issues can now stop migrant workers, and treat them like criminals.

In this regard, Deputy Moreira deplored the fact that "in a globalized world merchandise can travel freely from one side to another, but people who look for work in places with better opportunities are humiliated, detained, and now criminallized."

This law, SB1070, recently signed by Governor Brewer, [Moreira] stressed, "is the product of conservative minds which take as a pretext migrants in order to gain the favor of the elecorate."

....

In another article in La Jornada:

The unprecedented harshness of the migration law in Arizona is causing a furor in the US....

The defenders of civil rights warn: "It is open season on the hunt for Latinos."  However, the conservaties argue that protection against crime is also a human right.

The civilian popuation has been converted into a guarantor of order: now they are empowered by law to spy on their co-citizens, if they consider it neccessary, and indeed, if they do consider it necessary, the police are obligated to examine the foreigner reported to them as suspicious.

'It can't be that for a policeman it's more important to stop a migrant without papers than a violent criminal ....' said Arturo Venegas, the ex-police chief of Sacramento California, who is a member of the civil rights group 'Law Enforcement Engagement Initiative.'  The law, he concluded, is a 'catastrophe.'

....

Mexico, for its part...affirmed ...that 'criminaliation is not the path' for dealing with irregular migration.

'The existence of cross-border labor markets demands joint solutions for the long term.  Mutuality, trust, and mutual respect should be the base for attending the goals shared with the US,' indicated the Secretary of External Relations, Patricia Espinoso.

Mexico, she added, recognizes the sovereign right of all countries to decide their public policies, but, she said, "when a measure like SB-1070 potentially affects the human rights of thousands of Mexicans, one can't remain indifferent.

On the Embassy Guy, on Traffic Problems and Good and Bad Stuff because of Them, and on Why There Were Traffic Problems

The Embassy Guy I wrote about yesterday mentioned that he'd been here in Mexico for several months and expected to leave in September.  If you are a junior officer, fast in fast out, seems to be the policy.  I would really like to know who in the Embassy actually has some really in-depth experience in and knowledge of Mexico.  Seems to me if the State Department is moving junior folks around fast, they're not doing anything to develop any real understanding of the countries we have embassies in.  When I was in the US Peace Corps about 2 centuries ago (in the mid 1960s) one of the virtues of the training program was that it was, in many ways, in the hands of people who were from the countries we were going to.  Does the State Department do this in their training of folks?  I have to say, The Embassy Guy appeared to be very considerate and appeared also to have absorbed the idea that it is really not cool to be tough and rude with our hosts.

 At yesterday's meeting, The Embassy Guy informed us of The American Citizen Services Unit (ACS Unit) which I had no idea existed. Here is its purpose according to the Embassy Website:

The United States Government has no higher responsibility than to serve and protect its citizens including those who reside or are temporarily abroad.  The American Citizen Services (ACS) Unit provides prompt, coureous, and eficient services to United States Citizens, consistent with US laws and regulations.

******

In the morning before we went to the meeting, when we drove down to the bridge where we walk the dogs and start our run, we were confronted with a bumper-to-bumper stream of traffic.  We didn't know what the crunch was about, but somebody or other suggested some trucks had collided, diverting traffic from the main road. We decided we'd hike along foot trails into the hills instead of running along the road.  Needless to day, the humans enjoyed the change, and so did the dogs.

On our way back down, we ran into a man standing in the path, quite still.  It turned out he was catching birds, or maybe had caught them some time ago.  Strung through the high branches were a number of the fragile wooden cages we see all over.  He said he caught birds because he liked them.  He knew all their names, their colors, their songs.  He shushed us at one point to hear a bird in a cage high up in the tallest tree.  I don't know if he let them out or brought them home or what.  But he was a gentle man.  He pointed out leaf cutter ants to us, and nudged one to show us its characteristics.  He didn't even hurt the bugs.

******

We figured an accident would have been cleared by the time we set off to the meeting with The Embassy Guy, so we just headed down to the main road.  Just past San Marcos, we ran into Traffic (with a capital T).  In a clearing at the side of the road, buses were parked side touching side.  Hmm. Someone came down the road telling everyone we had to turn around: it was a manifestación, or protest demonstration. We had to drive the REALLY back way to Coatepec (which we go through to get to Xalapa where the meeting was) in a long line of cars, many of whom were clearly not used to truly bad roads.  The main road is a moderately bad road.  It has lots of baches (potholes) which pop into the road following every hard rain. But the REALLY back way to Coatepec is a road comprised not just of baches but of mountains and valleys, cliffs and rocks.  Needless to say, while it was a beautiful drive (Jim hopes city people didn't notice how beautiful which might cause them to decide they wanted property out there), we were rather late to the meeting.

The manifestación was a protest by the people of Ixhuacán de los Reyes against what they said was the State PRI's efforts to impose a candidate for mayor on them. It lasted ten hours, so we had to go home the back way, too.  Everything seems to have been peaceful.  Roads get closed here or narrowed all the time: for fiestas, for funerals, so they can be used to temporarily store building materials, when a tree falls across them, for repairs, whatever.  People are very patient about it.  Nobody seemed to lose their temper.  When there is NO clear explanation of why the road is closed, however, people know how to put a heavy hand on their horns.

¡The US Embassy Sends Rep to Visit USAers in Veracruz!

How lucky can you be?

Emails started circulating maybe a week ago: come to Town Hall Meeting with US Embassy guy on 23 April!  Well, there were things we wanted to ask.  
For instance, couldn't SOMEONE come regularly to facilitate renewing passports, applying for Medicaid, using United States notary services where such are required for legal documents. Or come at least once in awhile?  

The originating email with requests to forward it came from a guy we'd never heard of who is in charge (I think) of US students at UV.  He, it turns out, is called the WARDEN for USAers here in the state of Veracruz.  This certainly raised eyebrows, and raised them even higher when the Embassy representative said he'd combined visits to citizens living here and in El Puerto de Veracruz which visits to USA folks in PRISON here!  What are they in for, these Americans, we asked.  Drug crimes, rape, weapons violations, robbery, etc.  So we of course wondered if perhaps we, too, were regarded as prisoners, given that we had a warden.

Well, it was a kind of frustrating visit, I think.  

• Although we can now apply by email for a new passport and send things back and forth by mail, there is no real hope for some kind of system of visits to our area for other business matters.
• The Embassy wants us to register with them and they have an online data base for us to do it in.  As one among us pointed out, they probably have all they need in any event, so why bother us?
• As others thought (but didn't say out loud), we're not all sure we WANT to be in a US data base.  Lack of trust in government, shall we say.
• We learned that now some Mexicans (I wasn't sure which) applying for LEGITIMATE VISAS who come from the center of Mexico are now being sent to of all unglodly places Ciudad Juarez to go through the process, lengthy, in person.  Is this a plot to discourage LEGAL immigration or what?
• We learned that Mexico has FIFTY THREE consular offices in the US. The US has ten in Mexico plus two sub-consular offices.  We learned they don't have plans for more.  The Embassy Guy (yeah, like the Cable Guy) said no plans for more at the moment.  He said, look how many Mexicans are in the US. We pointed out, but we are the rich country: we have lots of USAers around here.  He said consular resources were going to countries like Brazil, India and  China...I would like to point out that Brazil has much, much smaller population than Mexico and far fewer Americans living in it, but that IT HAS MUCH BIGGER SITES FOR MULTINATIONAL CORPORATE ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION  I mean, multinational economic development, than does Mexico.
• The Embassy Guy was asked about the travel warnings the State Department has issued for Mexico.  They appear under headlines that suggest that there are travel warnings for ALL of Mexico. Well, The Embassy Guy said they had to do it that way; that they didn't prohibit people, etc. etc. etc., but some among us said they scared people unnecessarily.
• The subject of morditas-bribes, particularly to traffic cops, came up.  There were suggestions of how to deal with them.  What bothered me most was The Embassy Guy getting on his high Amurrican horse and suggesting that the US was trying to encourage, instruct, help Mexico with its corruption problem, but it was slow going.....Hey, how about those guys who got free meals in restaurants in NYC when I was growing up? To name just one microscopic example of corruption in the US....not to mention the convicted highway patrol guy in a state I formerly worked in who had a paying job in my department so he could wait till things quieted down.....and need we mention politicians?
• And the narcoguerra....Well, the US does support Calderón and his efforts.  No real discussion on this.  But we should know we don't know everything.

This is obviously MY take on the meeting, nowhere near as fair and unbiased as Fox News.  If you were there (or not) and have anything to say or add, I bet more than one of us would be interested.