This past Wednesday evening I read the news on my cell phone screen in disbelief. I was traveling by train from Solana Beach to Los Angeles. Paradoxically, countless dots of scattered color paraded in the immense tomato fields that extend through the coast of the Pacific. The cheerful clothing of thousands of Mexican and Central American migrant workers glittered beneath the sun, contrasting with their hard and strenuous labor.
Enrique Peña Nieto's invitation to Donald Trump is a betrayal
“One hundred and sixty eight years ago, Antonio López de Santa Ana gave away half of our territory. This past Wednesday, the President Peña Nieto, gave away what little dignity remained because the rest, had been taken already.”
US presidential candidate Donald Trump follows Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto after a meeting in Mexico City on August 31, 2016
Imagen Yury Cortez/AFP/Getty Images
I felt a profound sadness, indignation, and shame.
The invitation of Enrique Peña Nieto to Donald Trump to our country is a betrayal.
Despite a near universal desire for an end to Venezuela’s manmade disaster, sending in U.S forces to take out the Maduro regime would be counter-productive. It should be categorically rejected by interim president Juan Guaidó, not to mention the Trump administration.
The firing of undocumented workers at Trump's golf clubs just shows how the practice of employing immigrants without legal work papers is much more common than we might imagine. Such is life in the United States.
The Trump administration should be wary of fueling fake news predictions about an imminent American invasion which unrealistically raises expectations about Maduro's removal.
At some point we will have to accept the fact that the border between Mexico and the United States is nothing more than an invention.
The United States has had a major role in the evolving drama of the fight for democracy in Venezuela and Nicaragua. And so far, it’s been surprisingly coordinated, a veritable model of multilateralism.
Has the Maduro regime reached breaking point? It remains hard to say, but tomorrow is another - more hopeful - day for the restoration of democracy in the South American nation.
It’s impossible to get into Trump’s head but what comes out of his mouth are racist remarks. But, saddest of all are the millions who tolerate his views, cheer him on and emulate his behavior.
The time is well past due for the U.S. government to conduct a thorough review of leaders and their senior colleagues before they leave office to determine if they merit visas.
It is endorsing and legitimizing a man who has insulted, spat on and threatened us for more than one year before the whole world.
It implies endorsement of a political campaign fueled by hatred towards us, half of humanity, and towards the most vulnerable minorities on the planet.
It puts at risk the future and the lives of 16 million Mexicans.
Forty percent of the Mexican and Central American Immigrants, more than being undocumented, are refugees. Boys and girls fleeing hunger, rape, extreme misery and threats against their lives by gangs in countries that like ours, have denied them work and a secure and dignified life.
Even more than a problem of security and terrorism, this is a humanitarian crisis.
I have never seen a Mexican begging for alms on a street in the United States in my life. They work hard and with honesty, contributing and benefiting enormously the economy of both countries. They remain an invisible community of 11 million.
Trump should have been named a “Persona Non Grata” by our Government long ago. By exalting hate and division in his country and distorting this reality without any compassion, North American television networks, international corporations, heads of state and countless members of his own party have broken relations, contracts and all types of association with this individual, who in terrifying sociopathic and fascist outbreaks has contaminated the world and wounded the fundamental values on which North Americans pride themselves. However, our President has unexpectedly invited him to visit our country giving him an opportunity and platform which he has taken advantage of to rally and crown himself in Arizona, promising his followers mockingly, that the “friend” who just opened the doors of his home to him, did not know that he is going to pay for a wall and that he would send back in return his millions of filthy criminals.
Our President, with his inseparable and insubstantial rhetoric language, did not articulate, require, or demand anything concrete. Trump has had the unprecedented honor to be the first North American candidate to visit our country, tainting forever the memory and history of our nation. One hundred and sixty eight years ago, Antonio López de Santa Ana gave away half of our territory. This past Wednesday, the President Peña Nieto, gave away what little dignity remained because the rest, had been taken already.
As a result of this act and as a Mexican citizen, I must assert that Enrique Peña Nieto does not represent me anymore. I cannot accept being represented by a president who rather than defend and dignify his compatriots, is the same who denigrates them and puts them at risk by inviting someone that like him, is not worthy of representing any country.
In these difficult times, it is worth remembering the wise words of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.: “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
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