ATLANTICISM IS DEAD:

Mexico-Cuba rift signals Latin realignment: Once Cuba's ally, Mexico shifts closer to the US further isolating other left-leaning states in the region. (Ken
Bensinger, 5/05/04, NY Times)

Nearly a half-century ago, Mexico opened its arms to a young Cuban lawyer, a political exile who came here and began making big plans. And for decades, this nation always maintained a warm relationship with that lawyer - Fidel Castro.

But Mexico brought all that to a sudden close Sunday, cutting off relations with the bearded revolutionary's government and removing Mexico's ambassador to Havana.

The diplomatic equivalent of a knockout punch, thrown a day after Mr. Castro publicly questioned Mexico's sovereignty, was justified as a reaction to alleged Cuban meddling in Mexican political affairs in the wake of a bribery scandal here. But the move is only the latest in a string of events that have caused increasing tension and have, in just three years, laid waste to one of the world's strongest and oldest friendships.

That deterioration signals a significant change in the makeup of the alliances that define the hemisphere's political hegemony, paralleling the tenure of Vicente Fox as president of Mexico. Mr. Fox, who took power just a month before President Bush - and after 71 years of one-party rule - has traded in the contrarian's role Mexico held for most of the 20th century for a political agenda aligned with the United States and as a champion of democracy. And the closer Mexico gets to the US, the more it isolates Latin America's left-leaning states, like Brazil, Argentina, and Cuba, creating a bipolarity in the region, analysts say.

"The breakdown of relations [with Cuba] is simply a confirmation of the newfound influence that the US government has on Mexico," said Renato Davalos, a political columnist for the Mexico City newspaper, La Jornada.

Surely the anti-immigrationists will explain how this is all a nefarious plot, but it sure looks like a significant victory for American policymakers.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 4, 2004 11:21 PM