WASHINGTON – After weeks of political infighting in the Cabinet of Mexican President Vicente Fox, the high-profile office that represents Mexicans living abroad has been absorbed into the Mexican Foreign Ministry, officials said yesterday.
The shake-up marks a defeat for Juan Hernández, the outspoken Mexican-American who built strong ties to Mexicans in the United States and stirred controversy by saying he wanted even seventh-generation Mexican-Americans to think "Mexico first."
The move also signals a victory for Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda, who reportedly wants to run for president in 2006 and who has argued within the Cabinet that his ministry should manage relations with the huge Mexican immigrant population in the United States.
"This move is closely related to Jorge Castañeda's drive for the presidency," said Wayne Cornelius, director of the Center for U.S.-Mexico Studies at the University of California San Diego.
He said Hernández and Castañeda "have tangled often over jurisdictional issues."
"Looking forward to 2006, Castañeda would like to have direct access to potential expatriate voters – unmediated by Hernández, who is much more popular among Mexicans based in the U.S. than Castañeda," Cornelius said.
Hernández was not available for comment, but a source close to his office confirmed that the decision had been made. Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry released an interview in which undersecretary Enrique Berruga confirmed that he would direct the office for Mexicans abroad.
Berruga then made a pitch for support from the immigrants, many of whom had rallied behind Hernández in recent days as stories of the Castañeda power play began to circulate.
Noting that Mexico maintains 47 consulates in the United States, Berruga said, "We are dedicating, at each of the consulates, at least one official who will devote full time" to immigrants.
The immigrants' economic and political importance in Mexico has grown steadily, as they send home an estimated $750 million each month to relatives who are often swayed by their political views. Moreover, the immigrants in the United States are pressing for the right to vote in Mexican elections from their new homes.
Demetrios Papademetriou is co-director of the Migration Policy Institute and an expert on immigration. He has worked closely with Hernández and praised his work.
"He put on the Mexican political map the explicit requirement that this president and subsequent presidents will have to take into account the interests of Mexicans abroad," Papademetriou said.
Just how provocatively Hernández has conveyed that message could be seen yesterday on the Fox administration's Web site. It said Hernández "has been commissioned to carry the strong and clear message of the president to the Mexicans abroad: Mexico is a nation of 123 million citizens, 100 million who live in Mexico and 23 million who live in the United States . . . "
According to the U.S. census, 23 million people of Mexican descent live in the United States, 8 million of whom were born in Mexico.
In a controversial appearance on ABC's "Nightline" last year, Hernández said he wanted Mexican-Americans to be more like politically active Puerto Ricans and Jews in the United States. Then he added, "I want the third generation, the seventh generation, I want them all to think 'Mexico first.' "
Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies, expressed alarm at the claim – also made by Fox – that 23 million people living north of the border are essentially subjects of Mexico.
"That's a hostile act," Krikorian said. He added, "What's really happening is that Mexico is seeking a kind of shared sovereignty over the Southwest and Mexican-Americans."
Cecilia Muñoz of the National Council of La Raza, a Latino advocacy group, called Krikorian's claims "ridiculous" and said immigrants from Mexico are repeating the story of previous generations of new Americans.
"Throughout our history, immigrants have come and transformed America and been transformed by America," she said. "The immigrants who come today continue that dynamic process."
Asked about the Mexican claim to 23 million immigrants and descendants of immigrants, she said, "It reflects a perspective that isn't really shared by the U.S. Latino community."
She noted that other immigrant groups retain close ties to ancestral lands.
"Nobody questions that," she said. "What's the difference here?"
