Mexican People

As the Americanization of Mexico proceeds inexorably (Mexicans not only continue to drive Fords as they did in 1950 but now do lunch at McDonald's), some abysmal cultural differences between the two countries remain intact. Consider, for example, the national reactions to recent acts of violence. In Mexico, within minutes of the assassination of popular TV host Francisco "Paco" Stanley in early June, there was an outcry against the seeming lawlessness in that nation.

Re "Aren't You Just Sicko de Mayo?" by Paul Rodriguez (May 5): The Battle of the Puebla in which the Mexican army soundly defeated the French army of Napoleon III took place on the fifth of May 1862, not 1875. The war between the French invader and the Mexican people went on for five more heartbreaking years of blood spilling and suffering. Instead of just kicking mestizo behinds, as Rodriguez quaintly puts it, the disciplined expeditionary force of Napoleon III and the allied troops of the Mexican Conservative Party faced a determined foe that finally defeated the proclaimed best soldiers in the world and executed Emperor Maximilian.

Scores of deaf Mexican nationals allegedly recruited to sell trinkets in New York City were probably smuggled into the United States via San Diego and then taken to Los Angeles before being transported east, according to federal authorities and court papers. In interviews with investigators, victims have described being recruited in Mexico, spirited across the border into Southern California and later taken on airplanes or buses to New York.

Proposition 187 has wrung California out. From limousine liberals to racemongers and all the good folks in between, the question of illegal immigration has created a broad canvas on which to paint our beliefs. If on nothing else, we can all agree the debate has been noisy and often unsettling. In this last weekend, we can all hope for some quiet contemplation. At the risk of asking for too much, how about a clear sign as to what the right vote should be?

A lone gunman assassinated presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio in March, according to the special prosecutor's latest theory, which was roundly rejected by human rights activists, opposition politicians and ordinary Mexicans on Friday. Late Thursday, special prosecutor Miguel Montes Garcia sharply backed away from the government's previously described view that a conspiracy was responsible for the death of Colosio, who was widely expected to be the next president of Mexico.

Fernando Rojas, 31, sat huddled with his two daughters at a table inside a hall here Thursday and explained to them the meaning of Las Posadas, a holiday tradition of Mexican Catholics that symbolizes Joseph and Mary's journey to Bethlehem. "I think it's important to keep the Mexican traditions alive for them because Christmas is very different in the United States," said Rojas, a Mexican immigrant who has lived in this country for four years.

The "ditch crisis" in U.S.-Mexican relations will probably not go down in the annals of binational relations as one of the more substantive confrontations between the two countries. But it does illustrate the complexities and contradictions of Mexican-American ties. To begin with, there is confusion about the origin of the proposal to construct a ditch along the Otay Mesa area of the U.S.-Mexican border, just east of Tijuana.

A Mexican legislator charged in Los Angeles Wednesday that the weekend slayings of four youths in Mexico City were political assassinations aimed at intimidating those contesting the results of the recent presidential election Gerardo Unzeuta, a member of the National Democratic Front, a leftist party that supported opposition presidential candidate Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, linked the killings to "extreme right-wing terrorist" forces "attempting to provoke a violent response from the Mexican people."

The political confusion in Mexico is much worse news than most American observers realize. In a purely political sense, the events are inspiring in a way: After 60 years of one-party rule, the Mexican people are once again speaking, delivering a clear message that they are tired of a "revolutionary" party that buttresses vast social inequality and pervasive corruption. But real life is not a morality play.

Deep in the heartland of the United States, Mexicans are changing American life irreversibly. This book gives us one man's highly personalized impressions of the change. The author speaks from the background of a career in college teaching and some time spent in Mexico and Costa Rica, which has led him to write several books on Latin America.