Mexico on the scene:

[rmnunez]

Mexican Secretary of State Derbez announced the government had dispatched the Papaloapan bound for Louisiana with 250 metric tons of tents, blankets, medicines, bottled water and other material for the relief effort. It is anticipated the ship will reach port Wednesday afternoon. Officers in comand of the Papaloapan participated in the earlier tsunami relief effort in Aceh.

[rmnunez]

"Operación Ayuda EE:UU-2005":
The Papaloapan is bound for New Orleans and will reach the Mississippi estuary late Wednesday afternoon. The ship is an amphibious landing transport vessel 172 metres long and 22 across. Its 320 crew, under the command of Guillermo Alejandro Carballo, includes 45 doctors and health specialists including female nurses (a first in Mexican naval history), 17 divers, engineers, psychatrists and pilots. The are equipped with eight APC-70 amphibious vehicles capable of transporting cargo or people, seven ATVs with 6x6 traction, two MI/17 helicopters (with rescue hoists for up to 300 lbs and a cargo sling capable of lifting up to 3 tons), 2 tanker trucks (one for water, the other fuel), 5 ‘zodiac’ launches, an ambulance and special dredging and cleaning equipment. The Papaloapan is loaded with 250 metric tons of relief supplies from Mexico and 15 thousand litres of potable water donated by the government of Tamaulipas state. The vessel includes a surgical theatre and has a kitchen which, properly provisioned, can feed 200 in a single seating when the hold is empty. The Papaloapan just returned 3 weeks ago from Indonesia where it was deployed in providing relief to tsunami victims. A second Mexican navy ship is being loaded with further relief already.

It was announced the Mexican Secretariat for Social Development will send 15 more tons of provisions for the relief effort in Louisiana and Mississippi in five C-130s. The Secretary for Social Development, Josefina Vazquez Mota, will travel to the disaster area immediately to assist in the relief efforts and coordinate assistance to Mexicans affected by the disaster.

Meanwhile the Mexican army is moving a 45 tractor-trailer truck convoy (a first in Mexican army deployments) to Nuevo Laredo where they will cross to be escorted towards Houston by US military. They are transporting 200 metric tons of water, provisions and specialized equipment plus personnel. Two potable water treatment plants, surgical and medical installations, plus kitchens capable of feeding about 350 people a day. It has not been indicated whether the army will implement the famous “DN-III” plan in US territory (the name of the military disaster relief procedure in México) as they are awaiting authorization from the US.

http://www.elsemanario.com.mx/elsema...cid&sortby=ASC http://www.esmas.com/noticierostelev...co/472688.html

[Chris]

Quote by: rmnunez Mexican Secretary of State Derbez announced the government had dispatched the Papaloapan bound for Louisiana with 250 metric tons of tents, blankets, medicines, bottled water and other material for the relief effort. It is anticipated the ship will reach port Wednesday afternoon. Officers in comand of the Papaloapan participated in the earlier tsunami relief effort in Aceh.

I am quite grateful to Mexico for this help. Thank you non-gringoes.

And I would also like to thank you very much for all the bomb-ass food the Mexican culture has produced. I can never get sick of eating Mexican food. The only thing I wont eat is that tripe soup or whatever its called. Cause bits of cut up stomach is just nasty.

But anyway Yeah Give me some authentic Mexican food thank you.

[rmnunez]

Mr. Chertoff also indicated gratitude to the Mexican government on behalf of all gringoes, but I suggest people with language and attitudes like Chris' avoid the Mexican military relief effort since there is a huge press corps (over 30 journalists and cameramen) travelling with them and comments like the foregoing might prove embarrassing if reported.

The Mexican diet is relevant to their relief effort since they are deploying kitchens as part of their help. The truck convoy includes dozens of "community kitchens" which are set up in pairs to feed up to 700 people and the Papaloapan, as noted, can accomodate and feed 200 at a single seating. I suppose the military will have to learn how to avoid making things too spicy for the milder gringan tastes. When they went to help with the tsunami there were reports of imaginative cross-cultural spice-sharing. Louisianan cuisine is spicy too, so there could be some gastronomic experimentation here too.

[Chris]

What saying tripe is nasty? Cause it is.

[rmnunez]

Try some "Callos a la Madrileña" (pork tripes in tomato).

[Chris]

I guess I'll have to try it again, but I just didn't like it.

Man If I ever was at your house for dinner I am sure you would impress me with the finest Mexican Eats :)

Have to deal with the Americanized Mexican here (Real Mexican people catering to an American customer base). But I remember at Ft. Campbell they had a good restaurant right outside the gate. It was authentic, awesome.

[rmnunez]

I don't really like the spicy stuff, can barely handle the conventional green sauce. Often I am surprised by the chile's power and find all other flavours overwhelmed. Fortunately there is a lot of variety and not just of chiles. In September (Mexican national month) chiles en nogada are favoured and they are quite mild and very tasty. In Mexico City's markets I can find better fish and crustaceans than in San Francisco's and there are numerous inexpensive marisquerias where excellent seafood is prepared without too much picante. The corn tortillas don't do it for me, but the corn fungus is mouth-watering. Then there are all sorts of frijoles, with rice, peas, corn, beef, pork and often lots of hot peppers too. All sorts of strange herbs and weird mushrooms are available as well as salty fried chilaquiles (grasshopers) and they also have ant eggs. There are some very good deserts applying Spanish confectionary to all sorts of exotic tropical fruits (guanabana, mango, guava, tamarindo).

[Chris]

Would love to try it all man.

[rcne]

Our natural disaster may lead to a better understanding between us and other nations. It is obvious that in this instance we mishandled our own problem, from the local all the way up to national.

We have a large area affected and even with things now getting identified and handled. It is a massive project effecting 100's of thousands of people - so we need all the help we can get.

The support and offers of support are a window of opportunity for relation rebuilding just as much as relief for our people.

The Anglos say 'Thank You'

[rmnunez]

Mexican Secretary for Social Development, Josefina Vazquez Mota sounded very enthusiastic after her return from LA, Chicago and NY to which she travelled in the aftermath of Katrina to led support and hear the concerns of Mexicans in the US. She was impressed by the huge presence in LA where notable Mexicans paid $2,000 a plate at a gala fundraiser to help Mexican undocumenteds affected by the disaster. In Chicago they raised enough money to pay 3 months rent for 128 Mexican families rendered homeless in the storm, today they announced funds to cover another 140 families. In NY they are arranging to deliver provisions to the Mexican military kitchens in Texas.

The Mexican military kitchens in Texas have been a great success, even US military elements are found enjoying the food which is cooked and served hot -apparently the local practice has been to dish out sandwiches, fruits and dry goods, nothing cooked. The Papaloapan has finnished delivering its 200 tons of relief supplies and the need for scuba-divers, heavy-duty rescue equipment and specialists has passed, they will leave Biloxi within a week.

[rmnunez]

Mexican news reports the community kitchens deployed to Texas in providing relief in the aftermath of Katrina would return within 2 days as the need had largely passed. It was noted some provisions they had taken (including cooking oil and some dry goods) would be brought back as they could not even give them away since they did not conform to US health and safety specifications.

[rmnunez]

The Mexican military community kitchens returned from the US yesterday.

[rmnunez]

Gringan security concerns have curbed lawful migration there, but the undocumenteds trying to make it over have grown. Accroding to the Pew Hispanic Centre:

Since 2001, the number of legal permanent residents entering the US has declined from 578,000 to 455,000, while the number of illegal immigrants has increased from 549,000 to 562,000. Legal, temporary residents account for the remainder of people entering the country. Declines in legal immigration "appear to reflect processing backlogs, security delays and other developments that followed the Sept. 11 attacks". http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/09/27/D8CSLBDG0.html

[rmnunez]

Very intelligent comment from Bush's brother:

"Now it's important to look at where we are and to make the necessary adjustments so that we don't choke off international travel. So that we don't choke off international commerce," he said during The Miami Herald's annual Americas Conference. Florida especially understands that immigrants play an important role in renewing the country, he said. "It is a good thing to have people who want to come to set up their business, to invest here, to use this as a platform for the expansion of their business, whether they're from Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil or Texas." Bush, a brother of President Bush, said he gets a lot of e-mails from frustrated people who go through Miami International Airport. He also said the federal government should expand scholarship programs for residents in Latin America, the Caribbean and other regions to come study in the U.S. http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/09/29/D8CU0Q281.html

[rmnunez]

I read that 3 thousand are dead across Asia from eathquakes and landslides http://abcnews.go.com/International/...ory?id=1196425, the gringan Gulf Coast just got a double dose of hurricanes, Cuba took a beating, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Mexico have and are enduring the effects of hurricane Stan. http://sg.news.yahoo.com/051008/1/3vihw.html

It seems storms are wreaking havock and everywhere governments are hard-pressed to cope with catastrofic disaster. In Mexico the president spent his third day visiting the afflicted states, was in Tapachula yesterday, next was Oaxaca. Fox has appointed cabinet-level Secretaries to the various state capitals to coordinate the federal relief effort. The Mexican military has been ordered to mobilize all aircraft to haul provisions and equipment, 27 interstate bridges have been demolished by the storm isolating 4 states, but the army has temporarily repaired three.

I am pleased over the Fox administration’s handling of the disaster. The president is on the ground, hearing directly from the governors and local figures, visiting the shelters, checking the army and navy are actively engaged. Municipal authorities are being consulted and a massive relief effort is already underway. Initial damage assessments estimate about $300 million (dollars) in Chiapas alone, twice as much will be released Monday from various federal sources for the badly damaged coastal towns and oil rigs.

I can’t help noticing the Mexican military responds much better to these situations, than we saw in the US with Katrina. They have developed a complete emergency protocol called “DN-3” which enters into effect by presidential order. Once implemented, DN-3 involves the militarization of local authority and a focus forst on evacuation and rescue, then evaluation, shelter and containment to be followed by restoration and repair. When the emergency passes the military leave and the federal government receives the baton.

Fox said last night from Tapachula, that excess benefits from oil exports (the amounts above the budgetted estimate of what PEMEX would bring) will be released immediately to affected states, so we can anticipate a generously-funded reconstruction effort. The president personally called on live TV for any construction companies which are iddle to high tail it down south as a lot of help will be needed.

[rmnunez]

Fox set into effect the Institutional Immediate Disaster Response Programme (by its intials in Spanish RIIAD), as part of the federal government’s efforts to support states affected by hurricane Stan. Thus, the Mexican Public Health Service (IMSS) has delivered 24 tons of medications and health care materials to Tapachula, Chiapas. Fox also instructed the IMSS director, Fernando Flores, supervise delivery to those in need, and to render an accounting of damages and losses at institutional hospitals and clinics in the area. This accounting is aimed at focusing reconstruction and repair of medical facilities and their provisioning so they can be used to combat any spread of disease from the inherent plumbing problems to have resulted from the high waters. Fox also ordered the transport of 53 patients with chronic kidney problems (each with one accompanying family member) to maintain their hemodialysis treatments in Mexico City.

http://mx.news.yahoo.com/051011/7/1ixlv.html

[rmnunez]

In an interview with Televisa’s Adela Micha, PRD presidencial contender Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), criticised what he characterized as “protagonism” in the Fox administration’s internacional relations. AMLO criticized Fox’s frequent travels overseas and particularly his intervention in the ALCA summit. http://www.esmas.com/noticierostelev...co/490961.html

This call for a non “protagonic” foreign policy is deplorable. Though Mexico constitutionally precludes interventionism and has steadfastedly refused to get involved in the affairs of others, this is a mistake. Mexico has the largest navy in Latin America, it’s a major oil exporter and features the finest educational institutions south of the border. Mexico is in the OECD’s top 10, a regular participant in G-8 summits and Security Council member. Under a vartiety of rubrics ranging from GNP and population to level of public education, hospital beds or road miles, Mexico is well within the top 10% globally. Those at the top are in the lead and leaders are protagonists.

[Milton Bradley]

Quote by: rmnunez This call for a non “protagonic” foreign policy is deplorable. Though Mexico constitutionally precludes interventionism and has steadfastedly refused to get involved in the affairs of others, this is a mistake.

Well, at least you are consistent in your desire to break the laws, at home, and abroad.


Non-intervention leads to peace, and tranquility. We wouldn't want any of that crap breaking out, would we?

[rmnunez]

Non-intervention is a nice policy for governments which lack the resources to lead since this way they can't be embarrased by their apparent lack of leadership and involvement. Mexico now presides the OECD, has a judge on the bench at the ICJ and a seat in the Security Council. This is not an insignificant government, with over 110 million Mexicans (in that country) and anything between 4 and 20 million more in the US, an economy and GNP growing and accelerating from 3.5%, where daily we read of international academic conventions, bilateral trade treaties and outstanding technological and scientific achievement.

Leadership involves intervention, though maybe not always of a military sort. I can appreciate the sense in a non militarily adventuristic foreign policy, what I disagree with is this idea Mexico's future is better assured by adopting a secondary role promoting uninvolvement. What the world needs from its leading economies is engagement. China followed a strictly "non-protagonic" foreign policy for about 50 years and it wasn't until they opted to get involved and engage the west that their economy took off -now they are billed the emerging superpower with 15% growth rate and industrial activity that clearly displaces long established US MNCs.

The labels inside US Border Patrol uniforms have been making many federal agents feel uneasy. It's not the fit or feel of the olive-green shirts and pants, but what their labels read: “Made in Mexico.'' Agents and lawmakers are concerned about the consequences if the uniforms for agents charged with combating illegal immigration fall into the hands of criminals or terrorists. US Rep. John Carter, R-Round Rock, worries about how easy it might be for people to cross the border if they stole a uniform.Customs officials say they haven't detected any security breaches or misuse of the uniforms. Strict security measures are in place, including on-site inspections at the Mexican plant. For more than a year, the shirts and pants worn by agents and inspectors with US Customs and Border Protection have been made in Mexico. The uniforms are supplied by VF Solutions of Nashville, Tennessee, which subcontracts its work to plants in the US, Mexico, Canada and the Dominican Republic.

http://www.news8austin.com/content/y...sp?ArID=150595