The problem for México is that every so often a Mexican president takes the helm of the country and immediately kowtows to the powers that be. Santa Anna is one such character. Santa Anna is best known for losing almost half of the Mexican territory when he waged an unsuccessful battle plan to quell the Texas rebellion.
Santa Anna had built himself a reputation as a Mexican fighting for the Mexican state during the War of Independence. He was a Mexican willing to die for the cause. But Santa Anna craved power and he soon betrayed the ideals of an independent México.
Ultimately Santa Anna died in 1876 in Mexico City after living in exile for almost 20 years.
Mexicans, unfortunately, suffer from the legacy of working subserviently for others. It has festered in the psyche for generations. Working for the patron is the best way to describe it.
Santa Anna embodied the psyche in that he wanted to be a patrón.
Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) is manifesting the patrón psyche as he meets with Donald Trump today with hat in hand hoping to get some table scrap from Trump.
AMLO will be lucky to get away from Washington with nothing to show for his visit!
Publicly AMLO is looking to celebrate the USMCA, or NAFTA 2.0 treaty but with the Canadians absent it is nothing more than a visit between AMLO and Trump.
For Donald Trump, the meeting with AMLO gives him many opportunities to engage his xenophobic base with taunts of who is paying for the wall to thanking AMLO for doing America’s dirty work of containing the migrant caravans on Mexico’s southern border. AMLO, can only stand by and nod to taunts like these because AMLO will not defend the pride of the many Mexicans who dislike Trump tremendously.
But AMLO, like his predecessors bowing to the patron, is looking for acknowledgment of his worth from Trump. AMLO wants to feel acknowledged by the person who sees AMLO as just a useful tool.
It is sad but it is true.
My only hope is that AMLO doesn’t give away another half of México to the patrón because most everyone agrees that AMLO’s visit can bring no good to the Mexican people.
