Mexico Trucker Online

Hard to believe a year has passed since Mexico Verdad made it’s debut here. The catalyst for the creation of this blog was disgust over the vigilante group calling themselves the Minuteman Project.

We followed these pseudo-patriots, self serving all, as they were created and as the organization began to unravel, of course, with lot of chest beating and self congratulatory comments.

And as we went into the summer of last year, and the “narco wars” began along the border, between the Gulf and Sinaloa Cartels, we began to follow these developments, because by now, it was obvious that the Minutemen were a non-issue.

What began as a 4 hour fire fight on Ave Reforma, between the Nuevo Laredo city Police and a couple of punks from Laredo Texas with dreams of becoming high rollers in the cartel, soon developed into an almost daily occurrence of assassination’s of Police officials, including a Police Chief who had only held office for 6 hours before his death.

We watched and listened, and reported, as the media turned to hysteria to convince tourists that Mexico, particularly the border region was a lawless frontier with a certain death or kidnapping awaiting those foolish enough to visit Nuevo Laredo or any of the border towns. The State Department didn’t help the situation by issuing a travel advisory concerning the Mexican border, and we watched as a once vibrant downtown area of Nuevo Laredo, quickly became almost a ghost town. The tourists heeded the unnecessary warnings, the bars closed early and merchants who had been in business for years, suddenly were closing their doors for good.

And while this was all going on, myself, family members and friends, were going about life as normal, as was every other citizen of Nuevo Laredo. Sure, the violence was there in the background, but it never touched the civilian population. It was something we learned to live with and went on with our lives.

We were there and witnessed the astounding occurrence when word came from Mexico City to suspend the entire Nuevo Laredo Police force, and this was done immediately. Everyone thought that true lawlessness would come to Nuevo Laredo and the city would become one big war zone. What a surprise when as the hours passed into days and the days became weeks, that contrary to that thought, Nuevo Laredo was a peaceful place. We actually saw a reduction in the violence. People went on about their day to day lives as if nothing unusual was happening. Imagine something similar in an American city. The riff raff would be in the streets looting and robbing before the last cop was off the beat.

We were here and reported as Mexico elected a new President, showing the world that a young democracy can indeed triumph over the old ways. We watched as President Fox turned the reins of power over to his successor, Felipe Calderon and exited the public arena with his head held high, the first honest President of the Republic of Mexico in more than 70 years. And President Calderon has hit the ground running, fulfilling campaign promises to boost the economy of the country, create new jobs and put an end to the cartel violence. It can’t be done overnight, but his actions have shown his willingness to stand firm.

As we begin our second year of giving you “Mexico Verdad”, which in spanish is simply “Mexico Truth”, we are going to move our focus slightly away from the issues of the past.

The division in America at the moment is the issue of illegal immigration, which comes as a surprise to no one. In 2007, I believe we will see comprehensive reform of something that has no good solution. Certainly the solutions will not come from the minds of men who advocate sealing the southern border and rounding up and estimated 12 million undocumented humans and running them back to Mexico. Logic and common sense will have to prevail or else it will be an exercise in futility, whatever path is ultimately chosen.

Our elected officials, the voters, the readers of these blogs, need to start thinking with an open mind, as an individual, to come up with the solution.

The undocumented workers in this country, by and large, have no desire for citizenship. They want to work for a few years and return to their homeland. Leave them alone and this will happen. Of course they will be replaced by a new group wanting the same thing. That is why we need to ease and simplify the requirements for a worker or a tourist from Mexico to enter the country. The mindset of our government needs to change. They need to get the policy out of their heads that all Mexicans or awaiting an opportunity to cross into the U.S. Permanently. Of course, if you keep the restrictive policies in place we have now, then yes, they will come and they will not leave. We’re going to continue to follow the debate and hopefully, teach the readers of this blog to think for themselves and not as how their parties or their friends tell them they should think In a perfect world, maybe……..

But our primary focus is going to be on the implementation of the NAFTA requirement permitting Mexican trucks to travel America’s highways. This is an issue that in a small segment of the population, is receiving vast amounts of attention, and all the things being said are lies.

So stick around and let’s see where this takes us. You are welcome to participate if you have something constructive to add to the discussion.