SAN ANTONIO – Strained relations between the U.S. and Mexico served as the unexpected backdrop for Friday’s event at the St. Mary’s University Law School, marking the centennial of the Mexican constitution.
Julian Castro, the former mayor of San Antonio and the U.S. secretary to the Department of Housing and Urban Development under President Obama, said as long as Mexico has had a constitution, both countries have had a strong relationship.
Roberto Rosas, a St. Mary’s professor of comparative law, said the current atmosphere since the election of President Donald Trump saddens many Mexicans, who consider both countries more than neighbors.
“We’re friends, allies who need each other,” Rosas said.
“My hope is that we’re not going in the other direction,” Castro said. “Cooperation is the future. That’s my hope.”
Rosas said he agrees. He said confrontation, such as a trade war over paying for a border fence, wouldn’t be worth it.
Castro said the U.S. and Mexico are engaged in a worldwide competition for investments and jobs.
“If we don’t maintain strong relationships with people from Mexico, others will. They’ll be the ones who get the investment, the trade and the jobs,” Castro said.
Rosas, who was educated at Harvard, Oxford and the University of Guadalajara, said although Enrique Pena Nieto’s approval numbers are at a historic low, he believes the Mexican president has been “prudent” in his dealings with his American counterpart.
“Remember, as the old saying goes, ‘He who gets angry, loses,’” Rosas said.
Castro said Trump should build on the countries’ longstanding economic and cultural ties, rather than scapegoating Mexico.
“It’s very early in his tenure, so were going to have to see how much he’s interested in actually governing to create prosperity in the U.S. versus bluster,” Castro said.
Both Castro and Rosas said they share the hope that cooler heads will prevail for the sake of Mexico and the United States.