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Yeah, that has worked out really well for Venezuela. Lol
Venezuela is Venezuela, and Mexico is Mexico.
I've visited both countries. They are as different from each other as the United States is different from New Zealand.
The greatest cultural difference of all is Mexico is actually a lot like the U.S., and Venezuela is not at all like the U.S.
Most Americans don't realize just how much we have affected the Mexican culture, and how much they have affected us. This cross-border enculturation has been going on ever since the lands were first occupied by Europeans.
Venezuela has very little American enculturation. Despite its size and vast natural resources, the people are much more like those in the tiny nations of Central America.
Mexico goes through long periods of stability, interrupted by shorter periods of upheaval, and Venezuela is perpetually unstable.
The idea that Mexico is completely impoverished and riddled with crime is simply untrue. The major violent crime occurs within 50-100 miles of the border with the US. Mexico, however, does have its share of crime and corruption.
I challenge anyone to name a country that is free of these problems.
The number one thing US expats and visitors to Mexico say surprised them about the country is that it is so unlike what they expected (and there are a million-plus US expats in Mexico.) It is smply not like the way US media, movies, etc., portray it. Most of what US citizens hear about are drug cartels in Tijuana, Juarez, etc., which spills over into US border towns.
The fact is, Mexico is full of nice neighborhoods and residential areas, world class cities, well-to-do businesspeople, millions of expats from all over the world. Very large Asian populations throughout the country, for instance. This may sound "racially insensitive" (and I couldn't care less) but I was nicely taken aback the first time I encountered a group of Chinese expats in Mexico speaking Spanish with Chinese accents!
Mexico has little villages of Mayan-speaking people who live the same way they did centuries ago. It has better-preserved 16th century Spanish colonial palaces and town centres than Spain. It has modern metropolises. It has ancient ruins. Gorgeous mountains, beaches, rivers and lake regions. Wonderful, welcoming people. Festivals out the wazoo, great artists, musicians, craftsmen, very rich and multicultural heritage. It is a vast, beautiful, incredible nation. We should be proud to be their neighbors and colleagues. Our citizens should be coming together, not increasingly divided.
Yes, it is unfortunate that some people come here and settle without going through proper immigration channels. I believe this, and the "threats" it presents is far overstated, and personally, with all the problems we face ourselves, I feel we have more important things to worry about. Most Mexican citizens, however they came to be here, are not rapists and drug dealers. We would be far better off economically, and stronger as a nation, if we were more concerned with rolling back tax breaks, subsidies and incentives to massively profitable companies who then send jobs off-country, rape the earth and give back next to nothing, except to the handful of billionaires running things.
I still think a "surcharge" on any private wire transfer going to MX would be a great revenue boost. That should help pay for this symbolic wall.
Yeah, right up until every one of them sending money home comes up with the idea of just sending a debit card instead. How you going to police or trace that transaction? It will cost you more to track all of those than you'd recover through the legal system.
Here's a dose of reality for you: Americans going on holiday to Mexico will start charging a small fee to carry money across for them and you won't know squat.
Another topic that shows the ignorance of many forumers, those that are not able to speak a foreign language and have never left their redneck town..
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