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.
Yay!! for Mexico! Thanks friends!
I'd be throwing bottles and trash at them if they passed, just like it was a Mexico-US soccer game, only in reverse.
They are not our friends and I want no part of the proposed community.
"Carrying water treatment plants, mobile kitchens and supplies to feed victims of Hurricane Katrina, the army convoy bound for Houston.."
Better check every human sized cavity in that equipment before they let it in... if ya' know what I'm sayin.
Applesauce?
Man, I really can't beleive what i'm reading, What a bunch of hippos. You guys are not there on the needy end of this. If it was your family in need you wouldn't care who was bringing you the supplies as long as it was helping your little ones.
I've been on the other end of this supplying medical needs in some of the south American countries and have seen the appreciation that these people have for the America. It's good to see others helping us at this time, and there is a great need for this help so don't underplay the help being sent from Mexicico!
This is far from the Freerepublic I once knew!!
Furthemore, not all Mexicans are illegals so try not to imply that they are..
>>>Today's menu
Don't forget those jalapeno peppers that they marinate in the sweat of Mexican cage fighters!
Ditto. Maybe we should simply annex Mexican, register them all as Republicans and increase our tax base.
Yeah. We've got an entire city displaced. A lot of resources needed to feed 'em. I say we just say thank you.
Mexican = Mexico
When they return to Mexico, they can take their people back in the large trucks. I think that all help is appreciated. I don't think there is a nation that we haven't helped out, and this recovery is massive. I am afraid that Mexico will use this as leverage for the illegals. I tried to listen to the mexican station fund raiser, and the little bit of spanish that I could make out, all of the people were first thanking God for their safety and the government(federal)for their assistance. I guess Mississippi has alot of hispanics ?
To Mexico. Thank you for your kind thought and offer of assistance. It is appreciated. However, don't assume anything...
I see this as a generally good thing. They may well provide some useful help. They are unlikely to be a problem. And... if it gives the Mexicans a reason to have a little pride in their country.... that's all for the better.
This type of thread tends to attract a certain type of poster....
"35 olive-green Mexican Army trucks and tractor trailers as they rumbled northward toward the border"
1. Have these trucks been inspected by the DOT for safety and EPA for pollution?
2. Why weren't 100 Pemex Tankers sent with gasoline sent too?
3. Why weren't 100 Buses sent to repatriate illegal Mexican Nationals.
Sorry for the sarcasm. Mexico's only in this for themselves. They've shown their not an equal partner in allying themselves with the U.S. on ANY international issue, including Iraq.
I agree!
Mexico, whose economy is Latin America's largest, is a net importer of refined oil products such as gasoline because it lacks the resources to expand capacity. Mexico City-based Pemex is able to refine less than half of the 3.3 million barrels of crude it produces daily, according to company data.
Pemex jointly owns a refinery in Deer Park with Royal Dutch Shell.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/3332383
That's why
I live in Arizona and every day I see the negative effects of uncontrolled illegal immigration coming from Mexico. However, I think we should assume "positive intent" here on the part of Mexico in sending this convoy of aid.
In this situation Mexico is a neighbor and their willingness to send 195 soldiers and 35 trucks which can feed 7,000 people a day who are in need represents a positive contribution - albeit even if "symbolic". Let's keep this in some perspective - our other neighbor, Canada has offered even less assistance. I would also suggest that Mexico's contribution is significantly greater than that offered so far by France and possibly Japan. That speaks volumes.
I never thought I'd be on FR defending Mexico in anything having to do with helping the US, as I'm rather "militant" in my views about getting our southern border under control and kicking out all of the illegal aliens. But Mexico has offered this help and I think we should accept it graciously and gratefully regardless of our other issues with them. Could the US get by without this aid from Mexico? - sure, but for the 7,000 folks in NOLA and elsewhere who need a meal, this will be a gift to give thanks to God for.
...my two cents...
Thanks. Any input on Number 1?
PS: You link does not exist.
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