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Dialogue & Culture: US-Mex Relations
Secrecy Hurts the War on Terror
By E. J. Rangel, MATT Editorial Contributor
Thursday, August 30, 2007
It is too bad Mexican President Calderón had to cut short the recent summit with President Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. But it’s understandable.
Although Hurricane Dean was not as devastating as Mexican authorities had feared, had Calderón stayed for the planned duration of the so-called Three Amigos Summit and the storm had caused massive damage, his countrymen would not have forgiven him.
The get-together, which lasted less than 24 hours, dealt mostly with mutual tri-lateral issues such as preparedness for natural and man-made disasters, as well as how the three nations can keep trading with one another as the United States tightens control of its borders.
But there was something missing. If Bush, Calderón and Harper had met for as long as they had planned, maybe, just maybe, before departing they would have spelled out just what the Security and Prosperity Partnership is all about and how it is supposed to achieve its goals.
The summit, you may recall, was launched two years ago when Bush and then Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin and Mexican President Vicente Fox met in Waco, Texas.
But in those two years none of the three governments has fully explained just how this partnership, or SPP for short, is supposed to work and the benefit for each of the three nations.
All we’ve been told is that the SPP is an ambitious effort to foster closer ties among the three nations by promoting trade and working jointly on terrorism-prevention measures.
The SPP’s stated mission is “to keep our border closed to terrorism yet open to free trade.” It may be a great sound bite but it is hardly enlightening.
So, if not now, certainly before the next get-together, the three leaders must tell their nations how the SPP can accomplish its mission. Failure to do that might hurt because, as Bush acknowledged during a joint press conference with Calderón and Harper, there are all kinds of weird rumors about the partnership and the biggest may be that the three governments are planning a super state a la European Union.
“I am amused by the difference between what actually takes place in the meetings and what some are trying to say takes place,” Bush told the reporters covering the event.
But back home, many were not amused. In CNN’s Lou Dobbs Tonight and in conservative radio talk shows Bush’s remarks were ridiculed. In addition, before the summit started, 21 Republicans and one Democrat signed a letter telling him that many members of Congress have “serious and growing concerns” about SPP.
Many in Congress are upset because in their view, the Bush administration is making those agreements without telling Congress.
Moreover, in Montebello, Quebec, which hosted the summit, thousands of Canadian protesters let the three leaders know how they felt about border security and other issues. And in Mexico a rumor like that reinforces the deep rooted suspicion of the United States.
As if that weren’t enough, there is rising protectionism in the three nations, particularly in the U.S. Congress.
So, if the governments of the United States, Mexico and Canada become more transparent on this issue, they just might make some believers out of non-believers. Everywhere in North America, people understand that security is, indeed, a top priority. Mexico in particular needs to work with the United States because it is in danger of being destabilized by violent drug cartels.
But the war on terror is not going to be won unless Americans, Canadians and Mexicans are involved in it together. And it is hard for the average person to get involved when his government does not say what exactly needs to be done.
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