We here along the border of the Rio Grande are the beneficiaries of many beautiful traditions…Some our own, others are borrowed, still others are there simply to be taken advantage of. Back in the days gone by wagon trains moved Confederate cotton south during the Civil War to the Port of Baghdad at the mouth of the Rio Grande. Then later the Villistas and the Carranzistas and the factions of the Armies of the North during the Mexican Civil war had guns and ammunition and explosives smuggled to them from the Gringo side of the Rio Grande.
Later on came agriculture and industry to complement the Hacendados and Rancheros in their ranching economy. I think though it took Prohibition to really start the tourism industry off here along the border. That was when actual resorts were built along the Rio, with gambling, courtesans, and most especially lots of booze. In a time when that was all illegal north of the Rio Grande.
Tourism eventually came to stay with improvements in roads and infrastructure so people could travel, and with the realization that a certain class of people had money, some of them a lot of money, and that they were willing to spend it to get quality American Goods, and then later on after American Goods became scarce, Chinese, Asian and other merchandise that could only by bought at an extreme premium in Mexico, Shoppers headed northward.
The industries of Mexico for decade after decade were protected “pet” or “crony” enterprises that turned out shoddy, overpriced goods that no one wanted. The people of Mexico certainly didn’t. There were absurdly high tariffs on most foreign goods and especially on electronics. At one time American Pilots flew small planes into Mexico filled with electronics. The tariffs were that excessive that this made economic sense. Mexico was very socialistic with a crony capitalistic overlay that assured a life of wealth and ease for the elite and well connected politically, but made for a very shoddy economy for the poor.
So throughout the year there came to the Rio Grande Valley two classes of tourist that were many times the same persons or family. One was the economic tourist looking for quality merchandise at good prices. And many times that same tourist would go to South Padre Island for days of sun and fun, and American Junk Food and franchise restaurant chow.
Well, it was different and they could go to a foreign country relatively cheap and still most of the time, find someone to speak Spanish with as well. Kind of like leaving home but not leaving it, at the same time.
The retail business in the valley reached almost absurd heights. Some of the malls and electronic stores did more business per square foot of retail space than any other mall or equivalent store in the whole of the United States. At times, there would be hordes of shoppers ass to elbow; like in a busy grocery store Pre-Thanksgiving. But these were no grocery stores. These shoppers were in electronic and computer retail outlets walking out with thousands of dollars of merchandise. Local residents would complain that if they didn’t look Mexican enough, they would be ignored by the clerks, who wanted, of course, the big score from the Mexican Shopper.
There were flies in the ointment, however. Internal turmoil in Mexico had the power to shut things down very suddenly. Sometimes tariffs were raised precipitously and Mexican customs would start enforcing import duties like regulators on roids. But the worst things were the peso devaluations. They were somewhat predictable. The Mexican President can only serve once for six years and then has to leave. At the very end of his term, there would usually be a financial collapse, and severe peso devaluation. This allowed the ones in the know to make a sudden windfall and to buy up smaller competitors and also allowed the new President to look like a hero, because things could only get better and anyway he wasn’t to blame for the collapse because he wasn’t in office at the time. Very slick in a slippery kind of way.
The average Mexican though would lose maybe half or more of his purchasing power against the dollar and no longer could afford to make the trip to the shopping heaven north of the river. Every one was devastated. Now the peso and the dollar are both plummeting together like tragic lovers off a cliff in the final act of a suicide pact. Now there are new problems
The border economy in many ways is dependent on Mexico. And we are only talking here about the above ground economy, not the underground one; that one is in fact, the larger of the two. Now there is new turmoil…The Cartel Drug in Mexico is at it’s hottest in Northern Mexico. Roads are not safe, mass murder and kidnapping can occur at any time. Travel in short is problematic.
The Rio Grande Valley is in close proximity to Monterrey, the industrial hub of Mexico. It’s a city of over 6 million people. It’s also a city where people hide cowering in their houses at night, fearful of being on the streets in country that has little to offer in the way of law and order and perhaps less in the way of justice. Last month, there was a question of whether or not American College Students would come for Spring Break. They did, more than a hundred thousand of them for three weeks during March, Part of the reason they came was the Drug War being fought in Mexico. Even in the protected tourist resorts of Mexico, they didn’t feel safe. They came to South Padre Island instead.
In Mexico, the week before Easter, the whole country pretty much shuts down. There’s a whole week to spend on vacations and with family. Hundreds of thousands cross the border for shopping and vacation. It looks like they will again. Perhaps for the same reason that young Americans did not go to Mexico during Spring Break, Mexico is just too dangerous. There is plenty of sand and surf at home, but the Mexican Resorts, at first untouched in the drug war now are…And they are touched heavily. Beheadings, killings, torture and disappearances, and horrors that can be found in links under border news. It seems like La Santa Muerte is in charge. So the Mexicans run the gauntlets to cross to Brownsville, to McAllen, to Laredo, and even El Paso, as they cross through Murder City, Juarez, crossing themselves all the way.
Update Dateline April 24 2011:
Border Retailers have dodged the bullet (unfortunate choice of terms) as far as attracting Mexican. For instance, the museum in McAllen had many nationals visiting, the traffic was high in the downtown shopping area and La Plaza Mall was packed. The only person there of Caucasian persuasion I believe was me. And business had been up all week according to the clerks.
News from Tampico and the rest of Mexico is equally depressing, A total of 177 bodies have been found in mass graves in Tamalipas. Mexico. In Tampico it seems like the gang, rob, kill, and carjack at will. One lady contacted here daughter after being carjacked and robbed on Facebook over the internet from her phone. The thieves had left her stranded in the middle of nowhere after taking all she owned. They didn’t bother to take her phone. They have no fear of police or authorities. And they could very well have been Police.
One countries loss if often the other countries gain. Mexican Vacationers ran the narco-gauntlet to the U.S. At least over here they can relax…for a little while.
Article on Shopping from Valley Morning Star>>
Here’s the latest from San Fernando:
How things are in El Paso.
Half a million visitors to The State of Chihuahua?
I think they’re on the way to El Paso
Here’s the boildown:
Same stuff, just more of it
And it’s getting worse and worse.
But now Mexico has become an important player
In International Commerce
Unfortunately that commerce is Narco-Trafficking
Here’s a message from the DEA>>
