Mexican authorities angry over treatment of nationals

From what's being shown on TV reports here, seems like Mexicans are being held in medieval dungeons in China. Canadian students under H1N1 quarantine in that country may be getting good treatment, according to my colleague Bill Schiller, but not so Mexicans. Media reports here are full of what happened to an AeroMexico planeload of Mexicans who arrived on the weekend in Beijing, to be whisked by ambulance to a hotel and quarantined for swine flu. Last night, television reports showed conditions in one hotel with filthy bathrooms, no water, poor food and confinement so difficult, one woman said over the telephone: "We're being treated as if we have the plague." (I apologize for lack of TV links; I'm far from the capital and holding on to my Internet connection by a thread.)

The Mexican government has chartered an AeroMexico plane to rescue and estimated 70 tourists from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong, opening up the flight to any Mexican who wants to get out of China. There will be huge celebrations when it arrives tomorrow afternoon at the international airport in the capital.

Anger has been building in this country for days over how Mexico is being treated. Several countries have cancelled flights - Peru, Ecuador, Cuba and Argentina. Cuba is a special irritant because Mexico has been one of the country's staunchest supporters against the U.S. embargo. Argentinian Ambassador Jorge Yoma apologized yesterday, but many Mexicans shrugged it off, believing (to generalize wildly) Argentinians feel superior to them at the best of times. There are reports of verbal aggression against Mexicans in the U.S. and officials refer to unwarranted discrimination and a special xenophobic paranoia against Mexicans abroad. There's a diplomatic row with China, with complaints yesterday at the United Nations.

These feelings of being discriminated against always seem close to the surface here - a sense the rest of the world doesn't regard Mexico or its citizens with respect. This will not be forgotten.

It is worth noting country-by-country media charts on swine flu reaction show the government of Canada has acted well, issuing only a travel advisory against travel to Mexico. President Felipe Calderon speaks often of co-operation with both U.S. President Barack Obama and PM Stephen Harper.

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From my own swine flu coverage diary, Friday was a special day. Photographer Carlos Osorio and I arrived in Acapulco by the seat of our pants to file on Toronto Star deadline. Just as we signed on to the Internet at our hotel, an earthquake struck near Acapulco. Not serious in terms of loss of life, but it knocked us off the Internet. Naturally, I took it personally. Sure, said editors on the desk about my late file: an earthquake.

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Now that things are returning to relative normality in this country - schools opening either tomorrow or next Monday - Mexicans can return to wrestling and boxing news and the soap opera craze that is so important. It's great, for example, to know Mexican-American boxing icon Cesar Chavez has launched a new energy drink.

Personally, I am thrilled Alma Rebelde has regained its rightful importance in life. I too agree Ana Cristina is as arrogant as she is beautiful.

Comments

[Kevin]

Linda, have you read any of the pieces by Jaime Avilés in La Jornada? He asks a lot of questions that need to be answered. Why has Mexico refused to release the names of those who died from swine-flu? At the very least the gov't of Mexico should release the demographic data. What happened to funding of the National Institute of Hygiene and the National Institute of Virology? Why did Mexico need to send samples to Winnipeg for analysis?

http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2009/05/02/index.php?section=opinion&article=004o1pol

Here's a link to a translation for readers not fluent in Spanish:

http://translate.google.ca/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2009/05/02/index.php%3Fsection%3Dopinion%26article%3D004o1pol&ei=wbIASuupMNSJtgfT6ZSFBw&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3DJaime%2BAvil%25C3%25A9s%2Bsite:jornada.unam.mx%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26as_qdr%3Dw

[Charlie]

Hi Linda, I agree with Kevin... also, according to Canadian reports, some of the people affected by the virus (Canada, Port Perry) had recently returned from a holiday in Cancun...yet, according to Mexican news, that tourist zone has reported no confirmed cases. How can that be?.

[Lazaro Gonzalez]

Off topic

Tomorrow at Queen's University will start CUBAN Conference: The
Measure of a Revolution | Queen's Sociology. How we know the
participants are coming here from Cuba to make propaganda in favour of a Dictatorship that long for half a century I disagree strongly with that. Castro brothers in charge of Cuba government have become a prosperous country 50 years ago in the nation that took place 165 and 177 in free speech and economic freedom.
More than 200 people remain in prison only because of different
opinions to the government without having committed any crime.

More than 20% of the population had to flee the island and settle in exile as I do that thanks to the hospitality of Canada I am a citizen of this great and democratic country.

Like many Cubans who were force to emigrate I have two daughters who are kidnapped by the Cuba government and I don't see them since 2007.

Hence, a small group of Cuban Canadian Foundation members want to show our protest peacefully with these representatives of the regime who seek to mislead the Canadian intelligentsia on the real purposes of the dictatorship, at any time without interfering with normal development event.

As members of this delegation of representatives of the regime are among other Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon of Cuba, Castro's daughter Mariela current President of Cuba Raul Castro, Miguel Barnet UNEAC president, all of which are not academic but political. Among the delegation members "academic" some of them with known links with the counterintelligence agencies of the Cuban government.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

[Kevin Simpson]

The news keeps reporting that most of the people with H1N1 in Canada had recently returned from Mexico but never say where the people were. They say that there is one woman who was in Cancun and caught it there but there have been no reports at any hospital or seguro social of the H1N1. In fact when one looks at the google map of infected areas none of the traditional tourist destinations seem to be affected. Did all these people get it in Mexico City; if 2000 people out of 22million got sick the odds are very much against a tourist getting the flu in Mexico City. Now that there was a death in Alberta on the 28th of April where did she get it; it is begining to look like this didn't start in Mexico.