HEY GRINGO, GIVE US YOUR COUNTRY

I haven't been to Mexico since driving from Austin to San Miguel de Allende in the 1970s. Back then it was common knowledge that the only way to make it through Mexican customs and immigration was have plenty of $1 notes to hand out: no bribe, no cooperation. Things haven't changed, although the required bribes are now be much bigger:

On Tuesday, five days after the bombings on the London transit system refocused Congress and the American public on the threat of global terrorism, former Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing that "No border security is possible without Mexican cooperation" and that "there can be no cooperation [from the Mexican government] without some sort of immigration reform package." Castaneda, now a professor at New York University, went on to describe immigration reform as amnesty for all Mexicans living illegally in the U.S., the admission of some 5 million additional Mexican citizens to the U.S. over the next ten years, and massive increases in U.S. aid to that country.

In exchange for the admission and legalization of millions of Mexicans, and billions of dollars in U.S. assistance, Castaneda said that Mexico would offer "tough" but "non-coercive" assistance in the effort to prevent terrorists from entering the U.S. via Mexico. Castaneda conceded that Mexico has lost control of its own southern border, and cannot verify the true identities of people to whom it has issued ID documents.

"Jorge Castaneda is not some obscure voice from Mexico's distant political past," observed Dan Stein, president of FAIR. "He served as foreign minister in the current Mexican administration. It is imperative that the Fox government issue a formal repudiation of Castaneda's remarks and assure the American public that their cooperation in the war against terrorism will not come at the price of extortion."

Which reminds me of a near incident while driving in Mexico. I had stopped and filled up with fuel at a petrol station out in the middle of nowehere – one of those last-fuel-for-X-miles spots. After I had paid for the fuel and was about to start up, the attendant – who had several scruffy looking mates in tow – came up to the open window of the car and noticed the Grundig multi-band radio sitting on the passenger seat. "Nice radio", he said. "How much did you pay for it?" I lied to him that the radio hadn't cost much. To which he replied, "Why don't you give me the radio?" I firmly and calmly told him no, started the car and drove away. The only reason I was able to firmly and calmly resist this guy's intimidation was the industrial size spray-can of Mace I had quietly retrieved from the door-pocket with my left hand. There's a moral in there somewhere.