“Coronavirus Has Mexico’s Workers Pinned Between U.S. Business Interests and Their President’s Obsessive Austerity”, 1^st May 2020

…The United States and Mexico are each enveloped in their own stumbling, disjointed response to the new coronavirus pandemic. The crisis is revealing the failures of the U.S.-Mexico relationship, and the cynical ways in which interest groups, corporations, and plutocrats take advantage of it.

The neighboring countries could deploy a coordinated response to the pandemic, because their contagion curves are weeks apart. A bold and creative plan that would establish a collaborative protocol to look out for cases at the border, or strategically increase the production of medical equipment, could pool the resources of both nations and save many more lives.

Instead, the coronavirus crisis has been used to further restrict immigration, violate labor rights, protect defense contractors, and double down on inflammatory and dangerous political rhetoric…

The pandemic shows how easily business interests are placed above the lives of Mexican workers. The U.S. National Association of Manufacturers, weapons makers and U.S. officials have urged the Mexican government to open its economy in order to minimize the disruption of North American supply chains. They need Mexico’s labor because final products rely on components produced south of the border…