The Nobel Prize in Economics in 1976, Milton Friedman, said that “there was a smokescreen in every government program.”
Presumably he was referring to the one from his native country, the United States, even though his origin was Jewish. But it is also to be assumed that he was referring to any government of any country in the world because —embedded in a democracy or a dictatorship— there are smokescreens everywhere.
Milton Friedman also stated that: “A society that gives priority to freedom over equality will achieve the development of both”; and “the political system taxes more labor to subsidize not working.”
Of course, God save me from thinking about it, these phrases do not apply to a country like Mexico. Obviously not.
Anyway, it is well known that I took advantage of the second paragraph of this column to delve deeper into the wound we have had since we changed the government in 2018, although it is true that this wound has existed since time immemorial. Today, it has opened and is bleeding heavily.
The express search to control freedom is about hiding under the constant punching of equality as an end. And that, indeed, can also lead to the end of everything we know as democracy.
It seeks to curtail freedom of the press, vital in the democratic development of a country; it seeks to strangle freedom of expression at its highest or even digital level; and so with many of the freedoms that we have earned as citizens of a democratic country, and that is our fundamental right as people.
The origin of this column was not, far from it, to talk about freedom, which gives for many, many editorials, but Friedman made it easy for me. The objective of this contribution was to reflect a reality that the president uses as a smoke screen when there are sensitive issues behind it, such as Houston, to name a few: the relationship with Spain.
A few days ago, I spoke with Florentino Portero, an expert in international relations and foreign policy, as well as a historian. Florentino told me a lapidary phrase from the president of this country: “The president of Mexico says a lot, but he does nothing.” What happened yesterday morning, with its attacks on the bilateral relationship with Spain, is an example of this.
Let’s go by parts: the commercial relationship between Spain and Mexico has undergone a clear evolution from 1977 to the present day. Before that date, the commercial interruption between both nations was notorious. In fact, as a reference, in that year only the trade between the two was 149 million dollars. A ridiculous number.
Today, after two galloping crises such as the real estate crisis of the first decade of this century, and the one derived from Covid-19, the ratio is more than 9,000 million dollars (half is exported and half is imported, practically). So we both win.
Mexico is one of Spain’s main trading partners and vice versa. In fact, for some years now, the relationship between the two countries has been completely win-win.
To get an idea, the current surplus in this commercial relationship for Mexico is about 400 million dollars, that is, it exports more than it imports.
Now, Foreign Direct Investment, the one that is being demonized at times, generates jobs, feeds, develops a country technologically, makes it stronger.
Yes, of course there are black and embarrassing spots. Corruption has been permeated in both Spanish and Mexican politics throughout history. And this bilateral relationship has its black sheep. Also in companies that do business with governments. This scourge is not exclusive to Spain and there is no corruption if one of the parties does not want it.
But the truth is that Spanish investment so far this century is around 75,000 million dollars in Mexico (equivalent to 12% of the total Foreign Direct Investment of this country in that period), a very interesting figure to understand part of the development that Mexico has had in recent years.
It is true that Spain is one of the main investors in Mexico, but the latter also has a prominent role in the Iberian country. Not in vain is it the Latin American leader in this area and in 2020 it ranked number 11 globally. It is also true that investment fell considerably from 2019 to 2020 (especially due to Covid), whose record was 550 million dollars, according to the Foreing Direct Investment in Spain, 2020 report, which can be found on the site of the consulting firm sifdi. com.
So, neither the Spaniards are as bad as the president says, nor are the Mexicans as innocent. Both countries play a determining role in the economic development of their respective societies and hopefully it will continue to do so, whether or not the Morenista government exists.
Requiem
As AMLO recently said in defense of his eldest son, José Ramón: “We are not the same.” Well no. We are not. Companies are not a country, nor do the corrupt define a prolific business and investment relationship. No, they are not the same as each other. Thank God.— Mérida, Yucatán.
@erjavievie
Journalist
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Javier Caballero Lendínez: A toxic relationship