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November 3, 2007
Entire Mexican State Underwater, U.S. Slow to Notice
An area of Mexico larger than metro LA is almost completely underwater after two days of severe flooding.
Granted, we're busy fighting a Global War on Terror and it's inconvenient to help our neighbors, not to mention our own domestic needs, but... it's probably worth knowing that 80 percent of Tabasco is underwater. More rain is on its way.
Our fires were on front pages around the world. So how come when Mexico experiences "one of the worst [catastrophes] in the country's recent history" it barely garners mention in the states? The Tabasco flood has been the BBC's top story for 48 hours and not only is the Beeb on the story -- bbcnews.com is seeking pictures and publishing "your stories" in addition to video.
The LA Times / America doesn't care about Mexicans, as Kanye might say.
UPDATE: Maria Antonieta Uribe and Sam Enriquez file from Mexico City in Saturday's LAT (and we hope it lands on A1):
"The scene here is terrible, it's biblical," said Javier Velazco, assistant director of the Red Cross in Tabasco. "We're attending to thousands of people. We're delivering food, rope and water, but it's not enough. We need everybody's help."The Red Cross is accepting donations here.
Video and more after the jump.
Photo by Alfredo Guerrero, Mexico Presidential Press Office.
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Thank you for the coverage of this story.
The US media ignore Hurricane Dean (http://www.helpafterdean.com) once the hurricane didn't strike the US - and this flooding is an even worse disaster since 10 times as many people are involved.
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Actually the LA Times did cover this. I assume that the rest of the US doesn't really know where it is.
It's not that the US dosen't care, it's that the news staff on TV and in print has been cut to the bone in favor of fluffy entertainment "news". The BBC still has people who know what they are doing. The LA Times is currently getting carved up by it's new owners who have stated time and time again that they are cutting international news. Many US papers are doing the same, ...stupid, but there you have it.
And although the rest of the world did cover the CA fires, their coverage wasn't so hot. The focus seemed to be "why are those people living there?" and "celeb/rich people's homes burn".
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Although to be fair, I did see the coverage of the floods first on the BBC newscast, which I watch because our local news is dumbed down just enough to be pointess.
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Simple question: where was the Mexican Coast Guard when Katrina hit New Orleans? I didn't read any posts about its failure to assist US citizens. Maybe if US companies could actually invest in Mexican industries there'd be a greater INSURANCE industry oversight of natural risks. If Big Oil wasn't a national monopoly and the phone compnay wasn't owned by one company more jobs would actually exist in Mexico and a few million Mexicans in the US would be working in Mexcio and able to work on infrastructure.
As to the poster who laments US media coverage of Hurricane Dean, "US media slow to notice" - hnmm - what internet planet does he/she live on. This takes "blame America first" to new levels. Everyone knew of this via the web (last time I looked the backbone of traffic on the web was a US entity) - it's still ongoing - and given the fires in southern cal., the drought in the US southeast, a little thing called war coverage in the middle east, well, OK, I'll fault the NY Times for not having this on page one, and not writing an editorial on it immediately as the rain falls.
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Where was the Mexican Government to aid these people. Oh I forgot, counting the money given to them from other countries.
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I saw the LA Times coverage too - AFTER I read coverage on the BBC and international news websites. And the coverage on the LA Times was good when it came - I was just shocked that I had to wait and watch for it.
To Jimmy Diego - even you end your little screed by noticing that the NY Times fell down on the job too. Oh - Mexico immediately offered its Navy and Coast Guard during Katrina, but your hero GW Bush told them that 'we have it under control, thanks, don't need your help.'
I'm 'blaming America first'? Get a life. I'm just noticing another example of our media's lack of proportion - and our citizenry's outright ignorance - when it comes to anything happening outside our borders. Neither serves us well.
And by the way - American companies do invest in Mexican industries, it's just more difficult in Mexico for international money to take over the entire industrial infrastructure. The natinoal oil industry in Mexico at least keeps Mexico out of huge international debt, which is the gateway to most American "investment" in 3rd world countries.
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To Jimmy Diego - while I don't mind a nation's nationalizing its resources, I oppose monopoly when it comes to consumer services. You got it right about the phone company
Telmex gets the job done only when you slip a small bribe to your local technician - and its services are damned expensive. The internet backbone is still going in down South at a Mexican, economical pace, but once it's in, we'll see if there's a call for a break-up comparable to breakup of ATT a couple decades ago up here.
Oh wait, you Righties are opposed to antitrust actions like the break-up of ATT. You like monopolies here at home, but hate them across the borders....