NAMI News
The latest trinational news.Wednesday, May 13, 2009
The Crisis Came. Mexico Didn’t Fail. Surprised?
The New York Times, May 8, 2009 - “Just for argument’s sake, let’s compare Mexico’s management of the swine flu epidemic that broke out here last month with China’s handling of SARS in 2002. The Chinese initially tried to deny there was an outbreak, were slow to combat its spread and resisted cooperation with foreign investigators. By the time SARS was brought under control, more than 700 people had died. Mexico’s conduct has been different. The authorities may have been slow to identify the threat, but once they did, they quickly notified international health agencies, acted efficiently to prevent the epidemic from mushrooming, and began working closely with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States. As of Friday, the death toll was 45. That response flies in the face of recent descriptions of Mexico as a “failed state” that is “on the verge of civil war” — phrases that seem a staple on American talk radio, cable television and political blogs. Apocalyptic language like that is based on the violence of Mexico’s battles with the drug cartels that supply the American market, and with the severity of its economic downturn, which has been complicated by the fact that more than 80 percent of its trade is with the United States. Both trends are indeed playing out, but what they mean for Mexico’s future is far from certain. At any rate, they stand in contrast to a number of fundamental changes that I have seen here over the last month — my first extended stay in this country since a four-year stint as The New York Times bureau chief here ended in July 1990.” Read More
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