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Tue 18 Nov, 2003 11:35 am
Mexico U.N. Envoy Fired in U.S. 'Backyard' Row
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico said on Monday it would remove its U.N. ambassador at the end of the year for saying the United States treated Mexico like its own backyard and likening the countries' relationship to a weekend fling.
Foreign Minister Ernesto Derbez said the envoy, Adolfo Aguilar, would leave when Mexico finishes its stint as a nonpermanent member of the U.N. Security Council.
"It was decided that as of January 1, once the period on the Security Council is concluded, Ambassador Aguilar will be removed," Derbez told reporters, saying the decision came after discussing Aguilar's remarks with the ambassador and with President Vicente Fox (news - web sites).
Aguilar prompted criticism north and south of the border by saying last week the United States had never been interested in developing an equal relationship with Mexico.
"The United States has never seen Mexico as its partner, as it sees its European partners," he told Mexican university students. "They see us as a backyard."
Aguilar said the United States saw its relationship with Mexico as important at some times and unimportant at other times, depending on the circumstances, and compared the two countries to "weekend lovers."
Fox rejected Aguilar's comments and Secretary of State Colin Powell called them "outrageous."
Some Mexican newspaper columnists have supported Aguilar's remarks.
Mexico sends about 90 percent of its exports to the United States and is economically reliant on its northern neighbor.
But it did not support U.S. efforts earlier this year to win Security Council backing for the war in Iraq (news - web sites).
Important issues for Mexicans, like improving the status of migrant workers in the United States, remain on the back burner as Washington wages its war on terrorism.
Where's their sense of humor?
Where's their sense of humor? I think the statement was very funny and somewhat true.
BBB
The main reason behind Aguilar Zinser's remotion is that he was considered too "antiAmerican" by the US authorities. He gave the perfect alibi to Mexican pro-US officials last week.
The other reason was Aguilar Zinser's criticism of our foreign policy. The "weekend lovers" phrase, so true, had little or no local effect. The key was the "backyard" phrase, which must be given in full context.
Aguilar Zinser said: "Mexico will keep on being the backyard of the USA as long as someone here [in Mexico] considers that it is best to swallow the sweet potato".
"To swallow a sweet potato" is a vulgar saying, meaning to stupidly pretend you're doing something while you're actually only cocksucking.
What Aguilar Zinser meant is that, as long as some government officials think it's best to accomodate to the US whims, the Americans will treat us as their backyard. He was pressing -in a very undiplomatic way- for a more assertive Mexican diplomacy.
He believes that the being "nice" tactic towards the US will not make our powerful neighbor cooperate in a migration agreement (a Mexican priority).
Aguilar Zinser wanted Mexico to vote, in the UN Security Council, against the US pretense of having the United Nations sanctifying the invasion of Iraq by giving the US control of that country's oil resources.
I personally think he was morally right, but strategically wrong.
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