Memo From Mexico, By
Allan Wall
Mexico To Cubans—“Mi Casa No Es Su Casa”
VDARE.com to Mexico (G.W. etc.) – “Turnabout Is
Fair Play.”
“The doors of the Mexican embassy in Cuba are
open to all the citizens of Cuba, just as México
herself is.” Thus
spoke Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge
Castañeda on February 26th, at the
inauguration of a Mexican Cultural Center in Miami.
Many Cubans took Castañeda at his word, showing up in
front of the Mexican Embassy in Havana the very next
day, toting their luggage (!) – these people really
believed they were about to leave Cuba! A particularly
resourceful group of young Cubans actually hijacked a
bus and crashed into the Mexican embassy. And then for
thirty hours, from February 27th to March 1st, these
gate-crashers and some others who had climbed fences to
get in, were holed up in the embassy.
The Mexican government immediately began to backpedal
on Castañeda’s extravagant promise. He hadn’t really
meant a change in Mexican immigration policy, he meant
the embassy would be open to all “currents of opinion”
asserted Andres Ordoñez, the embassy official in charge
of negotiation. On February 28th, Vicente Fox
put in a call to his
amigo Fidel.
In the early morning hours of March 1st,
Mexico’s ambassador to Cuba formally requested that Cuba
remove the would-be-immigrants from the embassy, and at
4:30 a.m., Cuban police
removed them. (For good measure, another 150 Cubans
who had been in front of the embassy were also
detained.)
The Mexican government declined to press charges
against the embassy-crashers, but not to worry, surely
the Cuban state security apparatus can take care of
that. Castro has declared that about 130 detainees from
the incident are to be
prosecuted.
The position of the Mexican government is that
anybody in Cuba who desires to emigrate to Mexico had
best do so legally.
Ricardo Pascoe, Mexico’s ambassador to Cuba, put it
this way:
“The government of Mexico is not going to provide
preferential treatment simply because they have invaded
the embassy”.
The same government, however, demands preferential
treatment for Mexicans who have invaded the United
States.
Gustavo Iruegas, the Mexican Exterior official who
had actually been sent to Cuba to deal with the
situation, pointed out the danger that giving amnesty to
the Cuban illegal aliens
“would have been
counterproductive, it would have been an encouragement
[to illegal emigration]. (The Siglo, March 2nd,
2001.)
Imagine that!
Jorge Castañeda, who provoked the whole incident,
blamed it on “radical elements” in Miami, who he said
had distorted his comments. So he hadn't actually meant
that the embassy's doors were open? "Mi casa no es su
casa" is Castañeda's message to ordinary Cubans.
Funny, this same guy is demanding that the U.S. grant
an amnesty to millions (!) of illegal aliens in the
United States.
Legislators from Mexican opposition parties, however,
did not accept Castañeda’s excuse. They blamed him for
provoking the incident and called upon the foreign
minister to resign.
El Universal, in an editorial of March 1st,
pointed out to its readers that it would be difficult
for Mexico to grant the Cubans asylum anyway, “because
their motivations are
economic, not political.” Gloria Abella, spokeswoman
for the Mexican Foreign Ministry,
agreed--“These are young people facing a difficult
economic situation, like many in Latin America.”
(According to the Mexican media, however, poor Mexicans
are
“obliged” to enter the United States illegally.)
El Universal gleefully declared in a
headline that the failure of the embassy-crashers was “a
slap in the face for the anti-Castro Cuban exiles of
Florida.” The Mexican elite displays a strong antipathy
toward Cuban-Americans, believing they wield too much
influence on U.S. politics - influence they believe
should be exercised by Mexico. Antonio Garza, writing in
the Excelsior, even dusted off an old Castro epithet for
the Cuban exiles, calling them “worms.”
What do we make of all this? Certainly, embassies
should be respected. You can’t have people crashing into
them on a daily basis. Besides the sovereignty issue you
have questions of public safety. So, we can sympathize
with the Mexican government and its desire to maintain
order and control of its own embassy.
But when you think about it, the sovereignty of the
United States of America is being violated on a daily
basis by illegal aliens from Mexico. The Mexican
government refused to amnesty 21 Cubans who entered
their embassy without permission. OK, that's
understandable. The Mexican embassy also refused entry
to other Cubans who were waiting outside with their
luggage packed, hoping to leave Cuba. OK, the Mexican
government does have the right to handle its own
immigration policy and can admit or refuse prospective
immigrants based on Mexico's own criteria.
But why then is the same Mexican government working
overtime to ensure that the U.S. grant amnesty to
millions (!) of Mexicans who have crashed into U.S.
territory?
The Mexican government has no qualms about disappointing
Cubans fleeing a totalitarian regime, but demands that
millions of its own citizens who have illegally entered
our territory receive
amnesty and
preferential treatment.
Amazing, isn't it? What's even more amazing is the
American government seems
willing and
determined to comply.
Allan Wall is an
American citizen who has lived and worked in
Mexico since 1991. Presently employed as an
English instructor, Allan has legal permission
from the Mexican government to live and work in
Mexico under the rubric of an FM-2 migration
document. His VDARE.COM articles are archived
here;
his Frontpage.com articles are archived
here. Allan Wall
welcomes questions or comments (pro or con) at
allan39@prodigy.net.mx.
April 02, 2002
