Memo From Middle America (Formerly Known As Memo From Mexico) | Mexico — "Graveyard Of Central Americans"

By Allan Wall

09/22/2010

As VDARE.COM readers are well aware, the Mexican political, academic and media elite get hysterical over every real or imaginary slight to all Mexicans, legal or illegal, in the United States.

A recent paroxysm was launched over Arizona’s SB 1070 — a perfectly reasonable measure which only attempted to enforce federal immigration law. But Mexican president Felipe Calderon harangued our Congress over SB 1070, asserting that it "introduces a terrible idea of using racial profiling as the basis for law enforcement".

Can you believe it? People in Arizona might actually be profiled!!!! Opponents of SB 1070 claim that’s just the next step to Nazi Germany.

But what’s going on south of the border?

Truth to tell, if getting profiled were the worst that happens, the Mexican illegal aliens north of the border are getting off easy.

In Mexico they do more than profile (although they absolutely do that — I myself have been profiled in Mexico). Illegal aliens passing through Mexican territory are generally treated very badly. See my VDARE.COM articles More Hypocrisy: How Mexico Handles its Own Illegal Immigration and Mexican Police, Marines Beating Up (Central American) Illegal Aliens in Mexico.

As a Guatemalan with the pseudonym Carlos put it in a radio interview: México es un cementerio de centroamericanos — "Mexico is a cemetery of Central Americans". (Mexico, Cementerio de Centroamericanos: Migrante, W Radio 690 August 26th, 2010)

Indeed, several months ago, Amnesty International released a report on the horrific treatment meted out to Central American illegal aliens traveling through Mexico.

The long version is entitled Invisible Victims: Migrants on the Move in Mexico [PDF]. The short summary is Widespread Abuse of Migrants in Mexico is 'Human Rights Crisis'.

Here are a few excerpts from the summary:

" The Mexican authorities must act to halt the continuing abuse of migrants who are preyed on by criminal gangs while public officials turn a blind eye or even play an active part in kidnappings, rapes and murders, Amnesty International said in a new report…."

"Invisible Victims: Migrants on the Move in Mexico, documents the alarming levels of abuse faced by the tens of thousands of Central American irregular migrants [illegal aliens] that every year attempt to reach the US by crossing Mexico."

Kidnapping of illegal aliens is a big problem:

"Kidnappings of migrants, mainly for ransom, reached new heights in 2009, with the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) reporting that nearly 10,000 were abducted over six months and almost half of interviewed victims saying that public officials were involved in their kidnapping."

And female illegal aliens are especially vulnerable targets:

"An estimated six out of 10 migrant women and girls experience sexual violence, allegedly prompting some people smugglers to demand that women receive contraceptive injections ahead of the journey, to avoid them falling pregnant as a result of rape."

(See the long version of the Amnesty International report for all sorts of sordid stories.)

The majority of the illegal aliens detained and/or mistreated in Mexico are from the Central American countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. It’s relevant to point out that all four are poorer than Mexico.

That’s true whether we're talking about GDP (Gross Domestic Product) at Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) Per Capita as calculated by the CIA, or the Human Development Index of the United Nations. In fact, it’s a rather sizable difference:

In August a grisly discovery came to light in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas. It was the San Fernando Massacre, which occurred just 90 miles south of the U.S. border.

On August 22^nd, 72 illegal aliens (58 men and 14 women) were massacred, apparently by the Zetas. The slain were from the Central American countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador and from Ecuador and Brazil in South America. The mass killing was reported by an Ecuadorian who had escaped. (See related photos here).

Why did the Zetas kill the illegal aliens?

The Amnesty International report says that criminals (sometimes with the help of police) kidnap illegal aliens. They demand phone numbers of relatives (in the U.S. or Central America) whom they call to demand ransom.

Also, the gangs have been known to impress captured illegal aliens into service as drug runners or prostitutes.

Whatever the reason, the Zetas mercilessly massacred 72 illegal aliens.

Excuse me, Presidents Calderon and Obama — but isn’t that much worse than SB 1070?

Of course, the government of Mexico can’t protect Mexicans from violence. So why would we expect them to protect illegal aliens?

The San Fernando Massacre did result in what might be a first — a couple of demonstrations by illegal aliens on Mexican soil. As reported on the Mexidata website:

"On August 28, hundreds of migrants [illegal aliens] and their supporters staged unusual demonstrations in Arriaga, Chiapas, and Saltillo, Coahuila. Demanding the right of transit and protection from the Mexican state, the protesters carried signs that bore slogans like ´I am a person, not merchandise, ´ and 'I deserve to live.' "

Mexico Pans Arizona as Migrants are Massacred at Home, Mexidata, Sept. 6^th, 2010

That’s noteworthy, but I don’t see much coming out of it. These were isolated demonstrations. I can’t see Mexico allowing it on a grand scale, as we've done in the U.S.

How many other illegal aliens have died in Mexico? Mexican Ruben Figueroa, coordinator of a "migrant shelter" in Tabasco, says that "Immigrants are raped, murdered, beaten and tortured every day… We think there are other tombs, clandestine graves and pits that should be investigated."

On August 30^th, soon after the massacre, a group of Mexican NGOs issued a report on the treatment of illegal aliens in Mexico:

"Various Mexican civil organizations reported today that each year some 20,000 immigrants are kidnapped in Mexico by ´criminal groups that act with total impunity', as occurred with the massacre that claimed the lives of 72 indocumentados in the state of Tamaulipas."

Cada Año Secuestran a 20 Mil Migrantes in Mexico: ONG

Did you get that? — 20,000 illegal aliens are kidnapped in Mexico annually!

What happens to all those people?

And Mexico is criticizing the U.S. for SB 1070?

Of course the countries from which these massacred travelers hailed are unhappy about it.

But Mexico is not about to allow meddling by any other countries in its internal affairs — least of all on the scale that the U.S. regularly submits to from Mexican politicians and diplomats.

Indeed, Calderon and Mauricio Funes, the (white) president of El Salvador, held a press conference together in which Funes publicly let Mexico off the hook, stating that "Mexico is not responsible for the massacre".[México No Es Responsable de Masacre: Funes, Siglo de Torreon, Sept. 10th, 2010]

Nor did Mexican President Felipe Calderon learn any humility from this horrible massacre. As reported by Fox News:

"Mexican President Felipe Calderon said in an interview Friday [September 10] that last month’s massacre of 72 migrants doesn’t undermine Mexico’s moral authority to demand better treatment for its own migrants [in the U.S.]. 'Of course we have the moral authority, because Mexican officials are not shooting Central American youths at the border, but U.S. agents are shooting Mexican migrants,' Calderon said in an interview with the Spanish-language Univision network."

Mexico Lashes Out at U.S. Immigration Practices, Fox News, September 10, 2010

What unmitigated chutzpah! It’s typical though, for a Mexican president. And neither our current president, nor the previous president, ever answered this sort of outrageous rhetoric.

The Mexican president’s outburst is further proof that Calderon is not a reliable partner in achieving a secure border.

According to Calderon then, what is the solution?

"'If we are talking about responsibility, at the root of this, in the case of immigration, is the lack of immigration legislation in the United States that would recognize this phenomenon,' Calderon said."

Not only has the San Fernando Massacre not taught Calderon any humility. It has actually emboldened him to utilize it in calling for an amnesty in the U.S.

That’s beyond hypocritical.

What we have in our countries is a continent-wide humanitarian disaster. Central American countries tacitly encourage their people to emigrate. Mexico doesn’t protect them as they pass through — while simultaneously demanding protection and benefits for Mexicans illegally residing north of the border.

And the United States, rather than providing moral leadership, encourages it all by rewarding illegal aliens who get here safely.

Morally and politically, Americans are obliged to force their government to stop this — now.

American citizen Allan Wall recently moved back to the U.S.A. after many years residing in Mexico. In 2005, Allan served a tour of duty in Iraq with the Texas Army National Guard. His VDARE.COM articles are archived here; his Mexidata.info articles are archived here; his News With Views columns are archived here; and his website is here.

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