Mexico in a State of Collapse

Sometimes we strike out at others without complete forethought.  President Calderon of Mexico has done just that.  His country is in turmoil and he is looking for someone to take the blame.  The United States is an easy target.  In a television interview reported by the AP Calderon said the migrant massacre doesn’t undermine Mexico’s moral authority to demand better treatment for its own migrants.

“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. 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.”

President Mauricio Funes of El Salvador said during his joint appearance with Calderon that the home nations of migrants bear some of the responsibility for immigration problems.

“In part, the greatest responsibility lies with our governments, the Salvadoran government, for not having generated the employment conditions, the welfare conditions, that doesn’t leave our migrants any choice but to look for other opportunities in the United States and Canada.”

As this blame America news conference is occurring Wall Street Journal’s David Luhnow reports from Monterrey, Mexico in a headline that reads Elite Flee Drug War in Mexico’s No. 3 City:

In the past two weeks, U.S. farm equipment maker Caterpillar Inc. ordered executives with children to leave the city, following a similar move by the U.S. State Department for American diplomats here. Other U.S. firms are allowing employees to leave voluntarily.

“Based on recent guidance from the State Department, Caterpillar has informed expat employees in some regions of Mexico (including Monterrey) that they and their families should repatriate as soon as possible,” Jim Dugan, Caterpillar’s chief spokesman, said in an email to The Wall Street Journal. The move affects about 40 employees, he said.

Despite President Obama’s diplomatic repudiation of Hilary Clinton’s comment “Mexico drug wars starting to look like insurgency”, the reality is becoming apparent.  We may not want to send American soldiers into Mexico but we may have no choice.