http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9248064/
Mexico sends first ever aid convoy to U.S.
Food, supplies, doctors come north in gesture fraught with symbolism,
irony
Updated: 10:28 a.m. ET Sept. 8, 2005
LAREDO, Texas [AP]- A Mexican army convoy crossed into the United
States on Thursday to bring aid to hurricane victims, becoming the
first Mexican military unit to operate on U.S. soil since 1846.
The 45-vehicle convoy was carrying water treatment plants and mobile
kitchens to San Antonio, where the soldiers apparently planned to feed
and provide other help for evacuees from the New Orleans area.
The first green trucks, with Mexican flags attached to the sides,
crossed the international bridge at Laredo at about 8:15 a.m.
The Mexican government was already planning another 12-vehicle aid
convoy for this week. It has sent a Mexican navy ship toward the
Mississippi coast with rescue vehicles and helicopters.
Radio talk shows and newspapers in Mexico buzzed with excitement over
news that this country, long on the receiving end of U.S. disaster
relief, was sending a hurricane aid convoy north.
The mayor of New Orleans has said thousands may have died from
Hurricane Katrina, which struck the U.S. Gulf of Mexico coast Aug. 29.
Hundreds of thousands have been displaced.
‘High symbolic content’
Mexico has sent disaster relief aid missions to other Latin American
nations, but not to the United States. In 1846, Mexican troops briefly
advanced just north of the Rio Grande in Texas, which had then
recently joined the United States.
• MEXICO: Maps, facts and figures
Mexico, however, did not then recognize the Rio Grande as the U.S.
border. The two countries quickly became mired in the Mexican-American
War, which led to the loss of half of Mexico's territory in 1848.
The convoy has “a very high symbolic content,” said Javier Oliva, a
political scientist at Mexico’s National Autonomous University. “This
is a very sensitive subject, for historic and political reasons.”
Large Mexican flags were taped to many of the 35 olive-green Mexican
Army trucks and tractor trailers as they rumbled northward toward the
border Wednesday.
The convoy includes two mobile kitchens that can feed 7,000 people a
day, three flatbed trucks carrying mobile water-treatment plants and
15 trailers of bottled water, blankets and applesauce. The 195
Mexicans taking part include military engineers, doctors and nurses.
“This is the first time that the United States has accepted a military
mission from Mexico” for such work, said Javier Ibarrola, a newspaper
columnist who covers military affairs in Mexico.
The relief mission was controversial for some Mexican lawmakers, who
said the president should have sought Senate approval before sending
troops abroad. But the administration of President Vicente Fox said no
such approval was needed for aid missions. But it nevertheless later
asked permission and the Senate approved it.
© 2005 The Associated Press
--
Contempt of Congress meter reading-offscale.
Hello, theocracy with a fundamentalist US Supreme
Court who will ensure church and state are joined
at the hip like clergy and altar boys.
America 1776-Jan 2001 RIP
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president
represents, more and more closely, the inner soul
of the people. On some great and glorious day the
plain folks of the land will reach their heart's
desire at last and the White House will be adorned
by a downright moron." --- H.L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)
Religion is the original war crime.
-Michelle Malkin (Feb 26, 2005)
.
|
