Memo From Mexico, By
Allan Wall
Hernandez Out – But His Soul Goes Marching On
Whatever happened to
Juan Hernandez?
Juan Hernandez was the
first and only director of Mexico’s recently-abolished
Presidential Office for Mexicans Abroad. A dual citizen
of both the U.S. and Mexico, Hernandez was born in the
U.S.A. to a Mexican father and American mother, raised
in Mexico and educated in American universities. In
1995, Hernandez founded the
Center for U.S.-Mexico Studies at the University of
Texas at Dallas, with which he is still affiliated.
(One of the guest
lecturers invited in the Center’s visiting speaker
program was noted Mexican writer and reconquista
cheerleader
Elena Poniatowska, who addressed the center in March
of 2002).
In the 1990’s, Hernandez
became acquainted with Vicente Fox, then a
Mexican governor, and
later set up the first meeting between Fox and a certain
American governor by the name of George W. Bush.
After Fox was elected Mexican president in 2000, he
asked Hernandez to head up the new Office for Mexicans
Abroad.
The official goals of Hernandez’ new office, taken
from its
official government website, were
“To attend to
the millions of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans who live
in the United States as
citizens, residents,
temporary workers and
illegal aliens....
[para atender a los millones de
mexicanos y mexicano-americanos que viven en los Estados
Unidos como ciudadanos, residentes, trabajadores
temporales o como
indocumentados...]
“Dr. Hernandez
spends at least three days of each week in the U.S.,
holding meetings with governors, state and federal
officials, and most importantly, with members and
leaders of the Mexican communities abroad, from
Alaska to
Florida, from the Bronx to the east [sic] of the
United States. He serves as a channel of communication
between President Fox and Mexicans living abroad -
hearing their complaints, resolving their needs and
problems, and receiving innumerable petitions from
millions of Mexicans living in
different states in the United States.
“He has also
been commissioned to bring a strong and clear message
from the President to the Mexicans abroad–Mexico is one
nation of 123 million citizens–100 million who live in
Mexico and 23 million who live in the United States–and
most importantly to say that although far, they are not
alone.”
That 23 million figure, notice, includes both
Mexicans and
American citizens of Mexican ancestry. In El
Paso, Texas, Hernandez
declared that
"We have
recognized that the Mexican population is 100 million in
Mexico and 23 million who live in the United States....
We are a united nation."
And, speaking in Tucson in April of 2002, Hernandez
said that
“Vicente Fox
sees the nation of Mexico as being one of 123 million
people-100 million people within the borders, and 23
million living outside of Mexico....”
Assimilation? Hernandez said that Mexican immigrants
“are going to keep one
foot in Mexico”
and that they
“are not going to
assimilate, in the sense of dissolving into not being
Mexican.” (Denver
Post interview, July 11th; 2001.)
And, in an interview on the American news program
Nightline, Hernandez
stated bluntly that
"We are betting that the
Mexican American population in the United States....will
think Mexico first."
( Nightline, June
7th 2001)
Note that Hernandez said this while holding U.S. as
well as Mexican citizenship. If the U.S. respected its
own sovereignty, it would have stripped Juan Hernandez
of citizenship instantly. But instead Hernandez was
allowed to roam freely and freely meddle in local
politics, agitating for
driver’s licenses for illegal aliens and such.
Now, however, Juan Hernandez’ position has been
terminated. A new organization has been inaugurated to
serve the same ends as Hernandez´office. And Hernandez?
He’s been offered another new post–that of co-ordinator
of presidential records.
The new department, the
National Council for Mexican Communities Abroad,
will be personally headed up by Vicente Fox and is to
include 9 federal dependencies.
So what’s going on here? Did Vicente Fox have a
change of heart and decide not to
meddle in U.S. internal politics anymore?
I wouldn’t count on it. The best evidence indicates
that what is going on here is a struggle for power
within the Fox cabinet. Foreign Minister
Jorge Castañeda was reportedly not pleased with
Hernandez’ activities and comments.
Don’t suppose for a minute that
Jorge Castañeda and Juan Hernandez struggled over
ideology or policy goals. Everybody in Fox’s cabinet who
has anything to do with the matter supports high
emigration to the U.S. and does not object to
meddling in U.S. politics.
Ditto for the Mexican congressional opposition. It
accuses Fox of not having meddled enough.
What apparently displeased Castañeda was that
Hernandez, not accountable to the Foreign Ministry, was
running around the United States when it was Castañeda’s
prerogative to
negotiate away American immigration policy.
This was a personal struggle over turf, not an
ideological difference.
And the foreign minister can play the meddling game
as well as Hernandez. Castañeda recently attended the
annual LULAC convention. LULAC is an organization
claiming to represent American citizens of Latino
ancestry. Yet here was the Foreign Minister of Mexico
speaking at their convention - another example of the
growing fusion between Hispanic politics in the U.S. and
Mexican foreign policy.
Speaking to the LULACers,
the Mexican foreign minister attacked U.S. immigration
policy, blaming it for deaths of migrants in the desert.
He called for migration talks leading to an amnesty, and
according to the Houston Chronicle (June
27th, 2002), Castañeda
“noted that by lobbying local governments in the
United States, the Mexican government has managed to
make it easier for illegal immigrants to live a more
normal life.”
(That
means
Consular cards, ,etc.)
And, according to
“The News, Mexico” (June 28th, 2002)
“The official [Castañeda]
urged LULAC convention goers to lobby U.S. legislators
to push for immigration accords.”
Let that sink in a minute. A Mexican foreign minister
goes to the U.S. and gives political instructions to a
group of American citizens.
No need to rejoice over Hernandez’ departure–
Castañeda will more than take up the slack.
Don’t forget what Castañeda wrote in his famous 1995
Atlantic Monthly article:
“Some Americans.... dislike immigration, but there is
very little they can do about it.”
Is Castañeda right? That’s up to us to decide.
Fox is still trying to woo the hearts of American
citizens of Mexican ancestry. In his address at the
council’s inaugural ceremony (August
6th, 2002), Fox included among its beneficiaries
“persons of Mexican origin” in the U.S. In his weekly
radio address four days later, Fox was talking about the
"20 million persons of Mexican origin" - which
necessarily includes American citizens of Mexican
ancestry.
No matter who comes out on top in the Fox cabinet
turf wars, that strategy is still intact.
In the meantime, consider one more
quote from Juan Hernandez:
“Mexico knows where it wants to go even more clearly
than the United States knows where it wants to go.”
If that comment refers to each nation’s collective
political leadership, then Juan Hernandez is exactly
right.
American citizen Allan Wall has lived in Mexico since
1991,and is permitted to live and work there thanks to a
legal work permit issued by the Mexican government. His
VDARE.COM articles are archived
here; his
FRONTPAGEMAG.COM articles are archived
here.
Readers can contact Allan Wall at
allan39@prodigy.net.mx
August 20, 2002
