SOB Story: Don't Kiss Me, I'm Mexican
Posted on Tuesday, May 12 @ 10:30:29 EDT
Topic: Diseases Biohazards illegal immigration
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 ALIPAC NOTE: The open borders lobby in the media is playing full defense on the Mexican Swine Flu story. ALIPAC is NOT an "anti-immigrant" group.
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MEXICO CITY, May 5 -- China holds 70 healthy
Mexicans in forced isolation. Paris airport baggage handlers refuse to
touch suitcases from Mexican planes. Mexican soccer star Carlos Vela
scores a goal in the English premiership but teammates shy away from
hugging him.
As swine flu has swept the world, buoyed by a fever-pitch media
frenzy, Mexicans are complaining they are being unfairly discriminated
against as a nation of contagious plague bearers.
The actions of prejudice, they allege, are adding to their woes in
confronting the H1N1 virus, worsening the economic impact and making
them increasingly isolated.
Topics: Mexican Flu, Diseases, bio hazards, borders, illegal immigration, H1N1, Calderon, ALIPAC
May 5, 2009
By Ioan Grillo, GlobalPost for MedPage Today
Published: May 05, 2009
"In the name of our country, we raise a vigorous
rejection to the prejudiced and discriminatory measures taken against
Mexico," President Felipe Calderon said in a televised address on
Monday. "I ask all the nations that they stop taking actions that only
hurt Mexico and don't contribute to stopping the spread of the
disease."
The measures confronting Mexicans raise pertinent questions for the
international community about what is acceptable and effective in face
of a global pandemic threat.
Some responses -- such as the refusal to embrace an athlete -- smack of simple panic-ridden prejudice.
But some others being challenged by Calderon can arguably be justified as hard-line measures to save lives.
At the top of the list is the decision by several countries --
including Cuba, Colombia, and Argentina -- to suspend all commercial
flights to and from Mexico.
Calderon has urged these nations to rethink the tactic, which will
inevitably hurt Mexico's trade and tourism. The economic impact on
Mexico has already been calculated as costing $2.3 billion, the finance
department said Tuesday.
But the acting governments argue that without the stockpiles of
antiviral drugs held by richer nations, they have to do whatever they
can to defend their people. The latest numbers, released on Tuesday,
show that Mexico still has the lion's share of swine flu sufferers,
with 590 of the world's 1,124 confirmed cases of H1N1 transmission.
China took an even harder line, rounding up 70 Mexican passport
holders who had flown into the country and keeping them in isolation at
government facilities and hotels.
The Mexicans were denied access to their ambassador and several who
spoke by telephone to Mexican journalists said they had been poorly
treated and were in filthy accommodations.
The Mexican government finally chartered a plane that flew in to
pick the residents up on Tuesday, while it complained about the action
at the United Nations.
In response, the U.N. has advised against such measures, although
it has so far held back from castigating any particular countries.
"Our response (to the epidemic) must reflect enlightened self
interest and global solidarity at its best," U.N. Secretary General Ban
Ki Moon said Monday. "This is a test for us all. We need to respond
with a vigorous and new multilateralism."
The U.S. itself has resisted calls to restrict travel to or from
Mexico, with the Obama administration officials echoing the U.N. stance
that such measures are not proven to be effective in slowing the virus.
In reaction, U.S. anti-immigrant
groups have jumped on the issue as a new reason to clamp down on the
border, unleashing scathing attacks on Obama and his deputies.
"These charlatans claim that securing the borders would have no
impact in slowing the progression of the flu into America or protecting
our citizens or hospitals . . . ludicrous," writes William Gheen,
president of Americans for Legal Immigration in a news release. "These
unscrupulous traitors to our Republic claim 'the horse is already out
of the barn' and the burglar is already in the house."
On the Mexican street, this war of words over Mexicans' right to move
around the planet has sparked anger, defensiveness, and concern.
Mariana Sanchez, a 29-year-old industrial designer, said the cries
from Paris to Arizona to keep Mexicans out showed an unbridled
ignorance.
"These are meant to be First World countries. But they are showing
themselves as lacking any culture or understanding," Sanchez said,
staring at the headlines on a newspaper stand.
However, Hernan Gutierrez, a 34-year-old engineer, was simply worried about his own travel plans.
"If we try and go anywhere they won't let us in, or they will hold
us in quarantine," Gutierrez said. "I guess I will just have to stay in
Mexico for the next few years."
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