Epigmenio Ibarra: The "Fucking Delinquent" Is Someone Else

"Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat

Few wars of conquest, of the many that have taken place in the history of mankind, have resulted in the formation of empires that have managed to survive to the present day.

By fulfilling what they considered to be a divine design; their "manifest destiny", to seize the Pacific coastline and wrest more than half of Mexico's territory, the United States of America was born as an imperial power -and as such it remains today-.

A shortcut of traitorous, corrupt and cowardly conservatives, headed by Antonio López de Santa Anna, made the job easy for the invaders who advanced as far as California in the west, penetrated south to Mexico City and landed in Veracruz.

In a country as fond of war paraphernalia as the United States, there are no monuments, ephemeris or heroes of that foundational war. The Americans erased from their history, from past and present collective memory, that confrontation to which they owe, as a country, their place in history.

Voracious and insatiable, the Americans were not satisfied with those two million square kilometers they stole from us. Intervening in our affairs became the norm for them; in the Civil War, the Confederates even considered the possibility of allying with Maximilian to turn Mexico into a slave country. It’s true the South lost the war, but not Washington's imperialist appetite.

And so, from one barracks coup after another, encouraged, financed and organized by the U.S. Embassy in Mexico, we reached the 20th century, only for all hell to break loose with the assassination of Francisco I. Madero, orchestrated by Henry Lane Wilson.

From "slave country" we went to a "backyard patio" and then to territory where their war on drugs would be waged. From Santa Anna, through Victoriano Huerta, to Felipe Calderón and Genaro García Luna -what a tragedy ours is- there has never been a lack of traitors willing to get on their knees before Washington.

The time when the Marines disembarked in Veracruz is long gone; the young Mexicans trained in American universities, as Robert Lansing predicted, made the use of the armed forces unnecessary.

The time when the CIA, the DEA and other agencies did whatever they wanted in our country was also left behind, when with the victory of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, dignity and sovereignty were recovered.

It is difficult but not impossible to coexist peacefully, to be even a strategic partner of the most powerful empire on earth; even more so when its power begins to wane and the integration of North America is presented as a salvation plank.

With dignity and firmness -as López Obrador does- it is possible to deal even with Donald Trump or with a president who is betting on his reelection in these troubled times, such as Joseph Biden.

The old imperial vices persist north of the Rio Bravo -and they become more acute in electoral times such as those we are experiencing on both sides of the border-; there are "spies" in Washington who still believe that their "manifest destiny" as a nation is not to ally with Mexico but to subjugate it.

And if, on that side of the border, there are those who still feel they are empire, on this side there are those who want to return to being lackeys. Santa Anna sold Mexico and sold himself for a few pesos. 176 years later -that is why I say that the "fucking delinquent" is someone else - Claudio X Gonzalez kneels down, stretches out his hand and takes money from the USA, that instrument of domination born in the times of the cold war.

Milenio  Milenio Política