Salinas presses for migration agreement

The Washington Post ^ | Dec. 09, 2002 | Mary Jordan

[FITZ]

The government leaders of Mexico saw all along that NAFTA would destroy the rural people of Mexico and they never had any intention of allowing them to bring in machines or farm equipment from the US that would allow them to compete. The government of Mexico diverted water for irrigation to the maquilas so the farmers saw their crops wither, then they packed up and headed to the US ---just as planned.

[Kenny Bunk]

What worries me more than the Mexican elite's racism, and an almost pathetic xenophobia, which is evident to many who have had business in Mexico, is their very Spanish trait of using their lower orders as colonists.

Guess where their intended new colonies are. I have actually have had Mexicans tell me, "If we had had this kind of population in the old days, you Gringos would never have had a chance, etc. etc. etc."

They have the people now.

[ckilmer]

well I hope you're mexican or married to one. its unhealthy to have that attitude otherwise.

the US could protect its borders if there is the political will to do so. as it is now there is a growing political will to do so.

the question is how do you make the mexicans rich. you're right to suggest that mexican government isn't a pretty thing and likely no matter what great miracles are performed on the land there the Mexicans themselves will eat their own.

still the possibility of cheap desalinised water is within sight. there are just enormous implications for the world if people along the desert coasts of the world can obtain water from the ocean as cheaply as people in the green temperate places like Germany or Minnesota.

The first implication is that the world will be able to support the many many more people that you are talking about.