Mexico's Foreign Policy

Ezra Shabot yesterday had a rather odd analysis of Mexico's foreign policy and its impact on North American relations:

Although the expressions generated in the framework of the North American Leaders Summit suggests coordinated action by the three parties, the truth is that the differences in every arena between Canada and the United States compared to Mexico situate us a long way from our commercial partners.

The absurd imposition of visas for Mexicans from Canada, an attempt to line itself up with Washington's policy, only distances our nation from the possibility of turning into the political partner of the two other powerful states of North America. It's a symbolic expression that reflects cultural, social, and political distance among these countries.

Another example is Mexico's attempted rapprochement with Havana and Caracas and the unconditional support to Manuel Zelaya, the president who tried to set up a coup to reelect himself a la Chávez and who then received a dose of the same medicine from the Honduran Congress, judiciary, and army, which represents a return to the era of "uncritical Latin American solidarity", in which military dictatorships in the Southern cone were denounced by Castro was legitimized in Cuba.

There are three flaws that basically sink this argument. 1) I don't think Washington has ever been critical of Calderón for improving Mexico's ties with Venezuela and Cuba, at least never seriously. Indeed, insofar as it gives the US a back channel to each of the regimes, American officials probably welcome it. Furthermore, US-Mexico ties are stronger under Calderón than they were under Fox, precisely as the attitude toward Cuba and Venezuela softened. 2) I don't believe that's an accurate description of the reaction to the Honduras coup. The US isn't exactly at odds with the rest of Latin America over Honduras; it's just not being as aggressive as some would like in demanding Zelaya's return. Furthermore, thanks to comments from Zelaya that seemed to support AMLO while he was in Mexico, I imagine that the Obama administration will wind up being more vocally pro-Zelaya than Calderón. Whatever the case, I don't see any evidence of a serious US-Mexico gap because of Honduras. 3) Since when has Canada leapt to align its foreign policy with the US? I understand that Mexicans wouldn't be happy about the visa imposition, but isn't there a better explanation than kowtowing to the empire?