Mexican Heavyweights in the American Media

Denise Dresser in the LA Times, Enrique Krauze in the NY Times. Both authors --who occupy very different political spaces here in Mexico-- shine. Here's Dresser on the confused version of Mexico coming from the American government, which she says Hillary Clinton should aim to straighten out when she comes to town later this month:

Undoubtedly, Mexico's crime-related problems have become a focus of attention among lawmakers, law enforcement and the media in the United States. Over the last several months, there have been more than six congressional hearings, a segment on "60 Minutes" and numerous public statements made by key people in the U.S. intelligence community stressing Mexico's plight. Although this sort of attention is welcome -- given the seriousness of the problems -- a panoply of inconsistent, disjointed, contradictory stances has generated ill will south of the border.

Mexico doesn't know whether it should pay more attention to those who advocate militarizing the border or to those -- like President Obama -- who have come out against it. Mexico doesn't know whether the United States will make a concerted effort to stem the illegal smuggling of guns into its territory, or whether the "right to bear arms" argument will shelve that issue. Mexico doesn't understand if it's being bashed in order to generate congressional support for further aid and deeper collaboration, or if recent criticism is just political posturing by those who would welcome a bigger wall between the two countries. Members of the U.S. government talk about the need for a "new paradigm" in the U.S.-Mexico relationship, but then lop off $150 million from the Merida Initiative, which is designed to enhance military cooperation and intelligence-sharing. Members of the Obama team talk about a "strategic partnership," but then Congress ends a demonstration project to allow some Mexican trucks onto American highways, as required under the North American Free Trade Agreement. Mexico then retaliates by placing tariffs on 90 goods affecting $2.4 billion in U.S. trade.

And so the binational bickering goes on, while the Mexican porcupine moves into attack position.

And here's Krauze, pleading for a more realistic portrayal of Mexico from the American media:

While we bear responsibility for our problems, the caricature of Mexico being propagated in the United States only increases the despair on both sides of the Rio Grande. It is also profoundly hypocritical. America is the world’s largest market for illegal narcotics. The United States is the source for the majority of the guns used in Mexico’s drug cartel war, according to law enforcement officials on both sides of the border.

Washington should support Mexico’s war against the drug lords — first and foremost by recognizing its complexity. The Obama administration should recognize the considerable American responsibility for Mexico’s problems. Then, in keeping with equality and symmetry, the United States must reduce its drug consumption and its weapons trade to Mexico. It will be no easy task, but the United States has at least one advantage: No one thinks of it as a failed state.

Nor, for that matter, did anyone ever see Al Capone and the criminal gangs of Chicago as representative of the entire country. For Mexico as well, let’s leave caricatures where they belong, in the hands of cartoonists.