May 16, 2008
The Flap over McCain’s Mexican Connection

Dr. Juan Hernandez knows how to play politics on both sides of the border.

A former official of the administration of Mexican President Vicente Fox (2000-2006), Dr. Hernandez is now serving as an advisor to and fundraiser for Republican presidential candidate John McCain. The founder of the Center for US-Mexico Studies at the University of Texas at Dallas, Dr. Hernandez’s involvement in the McCain campaign is stoking controversy in both Mexico and the United States.

In an e-mail circulated in the United States this week, Dr. Hernandez invited readers to a Cinco de Mayo celebration scheduled for McCain headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. Potential attendees were urged to donate between $1,000 and $9,200 per couple. Dr. Her-nandez’s activism on behalf of the Arizona senator prompted negative reactions among some politicians in Chamber of Deputies, Mexico’s lower House of Congress.

Edmundo Ramirez, an Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) member and the secretary of the border and immigration affairs commission of the law-making body, said he was concerned that Dr. Hernandez’s activities in the United States could harm Mexico’s image.

“Who is Juan Hernandez? He’s a person who’s always operated with the North American right and here in Mexico. He is one of the representatives of the most reactionary wing of the right,â€