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Mexico buzzing about providing aid to U.S.
AP ^ | Sep 7, 2005 | AP

Posted on 09/08/2005 9:34:12 AM PDT by VU4G10

MEXICO CITY -- Radio talk shows and newspapers here buzzed with excitement over news that Mexico, long on the receiving end of U.S. disaster relief, was sending a hurricane aid convoy to help its larger, richer and more powerful northern neighbor.

Carrying water treatment plants, mobile kitchens and supplies to feed victims of Hurricane Katrina, the army convoy bound for Houston will be the first Mexican military unit to operate on U.S. soil since 1846.

The convoy has "a very high symbolic content," said Javier Oliva, a political scientist at Mexico's National Autonomous University. "This is a very sensitive subject, for historic and political reasons."

Large Mexican flags were taped to many of the 35 olive-green Mexican Army trucks and tractor trailers as they rumbled northward toward the border on Wednesday. The convoy was due to cross into Laredo, Texas, early Thursday, President Vicente Fox's office said.

"This is just an act of solidarity between two peoples who are brothers," Fox's spokesman Ruben Aguilar said of the mission.

The trucks, carrying 195 unarmed soldiers, officers and specialists, will apparently be used to provide water and hot meals for people evacuated from the New Orleans area.

The mayor of New Orleans has said thousands may have died from the powerful Aug. 29 hurricane. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced.

The convoy includes two mobile kitchens that can feed 7,000 people a day, three flatbed trucks carrying mobile water treatment plants and 15 trailers of bottled water, blankets and applesauce. It also includes military engineers, doctors and nurses.

"This is the first time that the United States has accepted a military mission from Mexico" for such work, said Javier Ibarrola, a newspaper columnist who covers military affairs in Mexico. "This is something that's never happened before."

The relief mission was controversial for some Mexican senators, who said the president should have sought Senate approval for sending troops.

But the government was already planning another 12-vehicle aid convoy for this week. It has sent a Mexican navy ship heading toward the Mississippi coast with rescue vehicles and helicopters.

The ship Papaloapan left the Gulf coast port of Tampico on Monday and is scheduled to dock Wednesday afternoon in the Mississippi River at a spot about 30 miles south of Biloxi, Miss.

"Military commands on both sides of the border have always been very sensitive about this kind of thing ... as we saw with the (U.S.) Marines when they came to Mexico to perform a funeral," said Oliva.

He was referring to a July 2004 incident in which Mexican troops interrupted the funeral of a Mexican-born Marine killed in Iraq. They had objected to the non-working, ceremonial rifles carried by two Marines who came from the United States for the ceremony.

Mexico later apologized but said it has an obligation to enforce a ban on foreign troops carrying weapons in its territory.

Mexico has sent disaster relief aid missions to other Latin American nations, but not to the United States.

In 1846, Mexican troops briefly advanced just north of the Rio Grande in Texas, which had then recently joined the United States. Mexico, however, did not then recognize the Rio Grande as the U.S. border.

The two countries quickly became mired in the Mexican-American War, which led to the loss of half of Mexico's territory in 1848.


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government; Mexico
KEYWORDS: aid; allies; army; borders; katrina; mexico; namericancommunity; relief
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1 posted on 09/08/2005 9:35:05 AM PDT by VU4G10
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To: VU4G10

Er - WTF?


2 posted on 09/08/2005 9:36:24 AM PDT by Rutles4Ever
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To: VU4G10

MECHA and AZTLANers are taking this as a sign to begin their revolution north of the Rio Grande!

There were loud cheers from these groups when the military convoy was shown (on Mexican TV) crossing into the satate of AZTLAN (according to them).


3 posted on 09/08/2005 9:37:25 AM PDT by hombre_sincero (www.sigmaitsys.com)
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To: VU4G10

Wow.... all that love for Americans,... so eager they are walking here to help.....


4 posted on 09/08/2005 9:38:08 AM PDT by Squantos (Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet. ©)
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To: VU4G10

How 'bout they just stop at the border and keep their own people in their own country? This contribution has the effect of relieving Texas of spending $$$ on their infrastructure that supports illegals.


5 posted on 09/08/2005 9:38:21 AM PDT by capydick ("The current tax code is a daily mugging." --Ronald Reagan)
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To: VU4G10

I appreciate the help from friendly countries. I think it is a very gracious gesture for the US to recieve it, even if we dont really need it.


6 posted on 09/08/2005 9:38:44 AM PDT by Paradox (Just because we are not perfect, does not mean we are not good.)
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To: VU4G10

Too little, too late. Mexico's "aid" is like a flea compared to the lumbering elephant of aid from Kuwait. Don't need no steenkin Mexican navy...


7 posted on 09/08/2005 9:39:41 AM PDT by La Enchiladita (Pray for President Bush and for Our Country)
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To: Paradox

Clean up your own cesspool!...We'll clean up ours. Deal?


8 posted on 09/08/2005 9:40:00 AM PDT by samadams2000 (Pitchforks and Lanterns..with a smiley face!)
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To: VU4G10

give them credit....it's no different then you finally being able to do a good deed for someone who has helped you throughout your life.


9 posted on 09/08/2005 9:40:37 AM PDT by God luvs America (When the silent majority speaks the earth trembles!)
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To: VU4G10

"Mexican mobile kitchens"

Today's menu for the sheltered (formelly known as refugees):

Red mole enchilada
Pozole
Tinga
Huevos ahogados
Huevos rancheros
Choice of Dos X or Corona beer


10 posted on 09/08/2005 9:41:29 AM PDT by cll
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To: hombre_sincero

Guantanamera, guajira, guantanamera!

Welcome to Free Republic!


11 posted on 09/08/2005 9:42:01 AM PDT by La Enchiladita (Pray for President Bush and for Our Country)
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To: VU4G10

Take the aid but Mexico can keep the illegals.


12 posted on 09/08/2005 9:43:02 AM PDT by lilylangtree
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To: cll

Don't forget the Pico De Guyo!


13 posted on 09/08/2005 9:43:25 AM PDT by highlymotivated (If American ever falls, a STINKING LIBERAL will be behind it.)
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To: cll

You're gonna get a lot more than just evacuees at that kitchen...


14 posted on 09/08/2005 9:44:40 AM PDT by Little Ray (I'm a reactionary, hirsute, gun-owning, knuckle dragging, Christian Neanderthal and proud of it!)
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To: VU4G10
the army convoy bound for Houston will be the first Mexican military unit to operate on U.S. soil since 1846.

Not true. The Mexican army is known to cross the US border indiscriminantly.
15 posted on 09/08/2005 9:47:11 AM PDT by andyk (Go Matt Kenseth!)
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To: VU4G10

We gotta give 'em credit when they do something right. Te saludo, amigo. Gracias por la apuesta.


16 posted on 09/08/2005 9:48:09 AM PDT by Ciexyz (Let us always remember, the Lord is in control.)
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To: highlymotivated

"Don't forget the Pico De Guyo!"

Got to do something with that high school Spanish 101 ...

Pico de GALLO! :>)

Good Eats!

http://www.texascooking.com/recipes/Picodegallo2.htm


17 posted on 09/08/2005 9:50:02 AM PDT by hombre_sincero (www.sigmaitsys.com)
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To: La Enchiladita

What does that phrase mean?


18 posted on 09/08/2005 9:50:05 AM PDT by tom paine 2
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To: Paradox

The Mexicans had better check their wallets before they leave.


19 posted on 09/08/2005 9:54:01 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (Troubled by NOLA looting ? You ain't seen nothing yet.)
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To: VU4G10

Does any one know how much of Preseidente Fox's drugs these army trucks are brining into the US? Got to be in the "tons!"


20 posted on 09/08/2005 9:55:29 AM PDT by Tacis ("Democrats - The Party of Traitors, Treachery and Treason!")
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