Eight LatAm Nations: Shut the F… Up!

Are eight Latin American nations right in telling the US to shove it or are they taking advantage of an unfortunate situation and using it to their benefit?


What if we told Mexico, Bolivia, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Peru that we wouldn't stand for their immigration policies?  That Napoleonic law was unjust and we just would stop doing business with them unless they released all those held for suspicion without cause or overturned their Napoleonic code of justice and created systems where an accused needed to be found guilty rather than presumed guilty? 


As much as this pains me, and it does, to say this: they have no right to demand this unless and until they accord similar accommodations for US workers who want to work in their countries. Mexico says the Arizona law would lead to racial profiling and hinder trade, tourism and the fight against drug trafficking. 


Come on. Mexicans in Mexico against racial profiling? Talk about calling a kettle black. Mexico has a long-standing caste system dating from colonial times. OK. I know the overt caste systems have been overturned by legislation, but that does not mean that social prejudices and economic exploitation are not present.  Even though overt racial oppression is no longer permissible by law, people still hold personal opinions about members of other races based upon preconceived notions.


Fact: for three years, working predominantly in Mexico City, I was called "Gringa" every single day. Don't tell me I wasn't subject to racial profiling. I was told point-blank in Mexico that I was a "woman" so I shouldn't possibly think about submitting my CV for a position for which I was qualified.  Those who do menial labor are called "negros" " negritos" and other names based on racial profiling. Mulattos and mestizos may not be "legal" terms of codification anymore, but they are certainly used.


Racial profiling IS illegal in the United States. The Arizona law does indeed open that State up to all sorts of opposition, legal and other…but the point is:  Go Away. Let us handle matters in our own house, thank you. I challenge those eight nations to take a long, hard look at their own immigration and labor policies before condemning other sovereign nations and threatening about trade.