Stinky Mexico

A new day, a new opinion. Today's translated opinion article delves into the fear of Mexico's alienation from the rest of the world, as well as the animosity towards infected people that is emerging within its borders. Salvador García Soto is the director of the national newspaper Crónica, and has been a politics critic through his column Serpientes y escaleras (Snakes and ladders) in El Universal for the past ten years. Here is what he had to say:

Stinky Mexico - by Salvador García Soto.

El Universal, 29th of April 2009.

The same thing that is happening to people and whole families infected by the swine virus here, who on top of the disease are becoming victims of rejection, segregation and social discrimination, is happening to our country in the world.

The creature that has caused what now is being talked about as a global pandemic, is damaging Mexico's image abroad, and we will have to pay a high price for it.

The travel restrictions and flight cancellations to Mexican territory, including the vetoes by major tourist operators to our main tourist destinations, are only a small example of the ramifications that this illness, now associated with everything Mexican, will have on our country.

The "Mexican" flu, the name that has now flooded the internet, will have extremely damaging effects; internally because of the regrettable loss of human lives, the effects on the social psyche, and the millions in financial losses that we are already starting to experience. The external damages will require months and millions worth of investments in media campaigns to rebuild the country's image and appeal, both in the tourist sector and amongst investors. 

If amongst us we are already getting reports like the one where the family of a twenty-six year old young man, who died of pneumonia in a hospital last week, are being isolated and vilified by their neighbours, it is to be expected that the Mexican identity, and Mexicans, will suffer similar situations abroad.

It happened to the players of the Guadalajara football team, who yesterday described how they were the recipients of mockery, contempt and even derogatory comments when they took a walk around the Viña del Mar shopping centre in Chile, where they had travelled to play a match, as well as having been subjected to strict inspections by the authorities on their entry to the country.

This is an illustrative example of the damage that Mexico's image will suffer abroad, and of all the time, costs and diplomatic efforts that will have to go into making up for it. The financial cost will be felt straightaway, and the decline in investments and tourism will intensify the recession and decrease in unemployment that the country is currently experiencing, but it will also reemerge as a painful hangover once the emergency has passed.

Sickly Mexico

I have been out of Ireland for more than two months now. After spending 7 weeks in the US (6 of them in New York City and 1 traveling to the Mexican border by bus) I find myself right in the middle of Mexico's fear epidemic. Not even a week ago the first reports of swine-flu deaths started coming from Mexico City, by the start of this week the world-wide media is telling us about the possibility of a global pandemic. 

Although in Mexico, I am living this story from the little cocooned apartment the we have rented for two weeks in a remote fishing village of Sinaloa, on the Pacific coast. The idea was to spend these two weeks catching up on pending work projects. However, the swine-drama is keeping me quite distracted and I've been spending many hours reading and comparing how this story is being reported in Europe, the US and Mexico. The area that has really caught my interest are the opinion pieces in Mexican newspapers. They offer a judgement of the situation that you won't find in European or other foreign newspapers. As a translator I feel compelled to provide a little insight into what these journalists are saying to all those who might not have access to Mexican newspapers.  The article that caught my eye today in El Universal newspaper by Ricardo Rocha, one of Mexico's most respected journalists, bares the headline Mexico enfermo. Here is the translation:

Sickly Mexico – by Ricardo Rocha. 

El Universal, 28th of April 2009.

This stubborn swine-flu, that has become psychotic and has revealed the sheer size of our fears, is not the only illness Mexico is suffering. There are many more chronic diseases that have been around for a long time.

If we compare the country to a human body we could say that it has quite a serious bone condition: internal structures that haven't been reinforced because we are always dealing with superficialities. That's why the big pending issues still remain to be tackled: a reform of the State that –amongst other things– restabilises the counterweights between the three powers of the Union, and one that puts an end to outrageous affairs such as having an attorney-general that is the president's humble servant; the design and implementation of an economical model that redistributes income, one that lessens the gap between the many who have little and the few who have much; and a revolution in the education system that is consistent with the age of global knowledge and in line with our own scientific and technological challenges. 

These, among other things, we need so as to avoid embarrassing situations such as having Mr Carstens begging for 200,000 dollars to buy labs that will detect the deadly virus that is now after us. 

Of course, the possible outcome is serious, but it becomes even more so because of our ineffective internal structures, because of our multiple sclerosis and the deep wounds, such as '88 and 2006, that still haven't healed. As a result the impact of the influenza is even bigger. Hence the confused eyes behind the surgical masks that have become part of the landscape in our half-empty cities. 

Even more so if we are threatened to become isolated from the rest of the world now that Mexico has been identified as the source of the virus that has put the US, China, Sweden, Brazil and New Zealand on the same alert. That's the last thing we need. To be declared in quarantine by the World Health Organisation, isolating us, diseased, from the rest of the planet would be the last straw. 

By the way, we have the right to ask the questions: Why Mexico? Is it true that immunology experts raised the alarm on time and no one paid attention? Are there no officials who hold responsibility?

In the mean time, the invisible murderer will keep killing Mexicans across the country. There is no one who can stop it. A fourth plague to be added to the financial, economic and social crisis that we are still suffering. A trial by fire for our governments. An epidemic of devastating consequences, especially for the poor. The truth is that this country has been sick for a long time.