A Reader Wonders If Hillary Was Right To Compare Mexico To Colombia

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09/16/10 - A Reader Says Courts Can Be Curbed Short Of Impeachment

From: Kathlene M [Email her]

I am a regular VDARE.COM reader, and would like to hear what Allan Wall's opinion on Hillary Clinton's recent comments comparing Mexico's narco-violence to 1990s Colombia. Obama has "rejected" her comments and Mexican politicians are up in arms about what she has said:

"Seeking to calm a diplomatic furor, he disputes the secretary of State's assertion that Mexico's drug war has begun to look like the Colombian insurgency.

"President Obama sought to calm a diplomatic furor, disputing Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's assertion that Mexico has begun to look like Colombia at the height of its struggle against a drug-financed insurgency.

"Obama's comments, in an interview published Thursday by the Los Angeles-based Spanish-language newspaper La Opinion, followed an outcry that began in Mexico after Clinton told a foreign policy group Wednesday that Mexico 'is looking more and more like Colombia looked 20 years ago, where the narco-traffickers controlled certain parts of the country.'

"Clinton's comments were quickly challenged by aides to Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

"'Mexico is a great democracy, vibrant, with a growing economy,' Obama told the newspaper. 'And as a result, what is happening there can't be compared with what happened in Colombia 20 years ago.'" [More]

Obama rejects Clinton comment on Mexico , By Paul Richter, Los Angeles Times, September 10, 2010

Allan Wall writes: Of course the Mexico 2010 /Colombia 1990s situations aren't identical, but it's undeniable that there a lot of similarities, such as the violence level. If you go to the original Hillary talk [Full text] those statements were actually made in response to a question, and they included positive remarks about President Calderon. But the Mexican government is incredibly prickly about any sort of criticism or apparent criticism.

It doesn't work the other way though. Calderon and other Mexican politicians lambaste our immigration laws right and left and meddle—and our government actually cooperates with them!