Mexico

The Foreign Policy Association’s “Great Decisions” 2007 Fall Update on Mexico can be found here. The update includes a summary of President Calderon’s first six months in office.

The leaders of Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. concluded a two-day summit focusing on issues such as trade, the environment, and border security. Presidents Bush and Calderon discussed a joint plan to combat drug trafficking on both sides of the border. The leaders also met with business executives from across the continent and agreed to block the import of unsafe products into North America. The summit, in Montebello, Quebec, drew crowds of protesters, which has become a regular feature of President Bush’s foreign excursions, especially where trade is at issue.

(Reuters photo of U.S. President George W. Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and Mexican President Felipe Calderon)

In the first 6 months of the year, Mexican immigrants sent $11.4 billion to their native country, according to estimates by the Central Bank of Mexico.  That is about the same as last year, which is seen as a significant slowdown, since earlier figures grew by 10% each year, reflecting population growth.  Overall, 64% of Mexican immigrants sent money home during the evaluated period, compared to 71% last year.

The Inter-American Development Bank surveyed Mexican immigrants living in the U.S. in order to shed light on the slowing remittances. The poll found the 56% of the 2 million Mexican immigrants in states with newer immigrant populations sent money back to family in Mexico this year, compared to 80% last year. The “new migration” states, including Louisiana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Georgia, have seen a recent surge in laws targeting immigrant groups including English-only laws, increased penalties for those who employ illegal immigrants, and legislation making it more difficult for migrants to obtain driving licenses and other documentation. The report showed a distinction between the “new migration” states, due in theory to these new laws, and the traditional migration states such as California and Texas, where the remittance rates have not fallen.

Remittances, transfers of money from foreign workers to their home countries, constitute the second largest financial inflow to many developing countries, exceeding international aid. Contributing to economic growth and livelihoods worldwide, remittances promote access to financial services for both the sender and recipient. The concept is not new, but rather a normal centuries-old practice as historic as migration itself. In the 19th and 20th centuries, several European countries including Spain, Italy, and Ireland were highly dependent on remittances received from their emigrants, with the practice accounting for 21% of Spain’s current account income in 1946. Italy in 1901 became the first country to enact a law protecting remittances.

With a slowing of remittances from Mexican immigrants in the U.S., who account for 95% of all remittances sent to Mexico, the economic impact will become more evident over time. What the findings of the Inter-American Development Bank suggest is that U.S. state laws targeting immigrant populations have important consequences that are felt far beyond their jurisdictional reach. In a globalized and interdependent economy, the impact is in turn felt at home as well.
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See here for an announcement and explanation of the survey results from the Inter-American Development Bank.

The stars of the critically-acclaimed film “Y Tu Mama Tambien” are turning their attention to social injustices in Mexico.  Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna held a gala dinner in Mexico City to raise money for the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights, and Witness, an organization started by singer Peter Gabriel that promotes the use of video and film to document human rights abuses.

Garcia Bernal and Luna said they would make documentaries to raise awareness of issues such as the unsolved murders of more than 300 women in Ciudad Juarez.   

(AP photo of Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna)

The results are in for elections across three states, with a mixed showing for the major parties. 

In Baja California, President Calderon’s National Action Party (PAN) won the governor’s race, four of five mayor’s races, and a majority in the state legislature.  The only candidate of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) to win a mayor’s race was Hugo Torres Chabert in Rosarito Beach.

In the Oaxaca elections, the PRI dominated elections for the state legislature, where it had trailed the Democratic Revolution Party in last year’s national elections.  The PRI also won most of the state legislature and major mayoral races in Aguascalientes, currently governed by the PAN.

President Calderon has named new ambassadors to Venezuela and Cuba, in an effort to improve diplomatic relations with the two socialist regimes. Mexico’s current ambassador to Colombia, Jesus Mario Chacon Carrillo, will head to Venezuela, filling a two-year vacancy in the top diplomatic post there. Calderon has also asked Congress to send Gabriel Jimenez to Cuba, replacing a Vicente Fox appointee.

The Carrillo appointment comes after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez appointed an ambassador to Mexico earlier in the week. Chavez had previously refused to recognize Calderon’s victory in Mexico’s presidential election, and in 2005, called then-President Fox a “puppy” of the United States. The reinstatement of ambassadors now brings a new opening in diplomatic relations and dialogue. 

The Council on Foreign Relations hosted a discussion titled “Biofuels in the Americas” featuring David J. Rothkopf and C. Ford Runje. Participants discussed the drawbacks of corn-based ethanol as well as the opportunity that Latin American countries have to diversify their economies via the energy sector by developing biofuel industries. Listen to an audio podcast of the program here.

National Public Radio (NPR) has a report on the tension that is once again growing in Oaxaca, where leftist groups continue to call for the ouster of the Governor. To listen to the report, “Deep Divisions Remain in Oaxaca,” click here.