oqui)This past July President-elect Vicente Fox had an interview that showed his perception of NAFTA. His perceptions are more along the lines of the younger generation that feels that these relations with the United States are necessary. He feels the border that Mexico shares with the United States is a great opportunity. He referred to the United States as and ally and stated that he wants Mexico to build a great relationship with the United States. The article goes on to note how Foxs position towards the United States is a change from the traditional Mexican views. The embrace of the cross-border relationship is a break from the often-prickly stance of past Mexican governments, most famously stated long ago by former dictator Porfirio Diaz: Poor Mexico, so far from God, and so close to the United States.(Rice) Another view that embodies the thoughts of the younger generation in Mexico is presented by Roberto Salinas-Leon, who is an academic director of the Center for Free Enterprise Research, Mexico City. He feels that NAFTA is a priceless window of opportunity that we cannot afford to have closed. (Salinas-Leon)In the United States, there was also debate about relations with Mexico. Many Americans were derogative towards Mexico, showing no interest in the benefits that could come with NAFTA. Many myths about the repercussions of NAFTA surfaced. A few of these myths were: NAFTA will cause massive unemployment as a result of jobs relocating into Mexico, the Mexican consumer market is too depressed to benefit the U.S. external sector, and U.S. companies will relocate south of the border because of lax environmental laws causing ecological deterioration. These myths and others were heavily debated when NAFTA was proposed. There were many political cartoons at the time that showed the debates about NAFTA. In the first political cartoon (Figure 1), there is a debate between a squirrel and a parrot. In the cartoon, the squi...
