In one months’ time I will be moving to Mexico in order to improve my Spanish fluency. At first, my friend was excited to visit, but has since changed her mind because “Mexico is dangerous.” As a graduate student of Intercultural Communications at University of Pennsylvania I consider myself open to learning about languages, people and customs that are different from my own, hence my excitement for the upcoming trip.

Even though all experience I’ve had with Mexican immigrants and migrants has been wonderful, the media does not paint a welcoming picture of the country. As such, I have taken it upon myself to research as much as I can about the country prior to my departure.

The Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars recently hosted an event titled “The United States and Mexico: Strategic Partners or Distant Neighbors?” I attended this event in order to learn more about the relations between these two countries. The roundtable discussion on the “State of the Relationship” was led by several individuals who have dedicated their careers to foreign service in various ways.

Ambassador Andrés Rozental of the Mexican Council of Foreign Relations spoke about the relationship of the US and Mexico and stated that although the two countries currently enjoy the highest level of cooperation ever, public opinion is still quite negative. Reasons for this are the highly visible issues of immigration, drug trafficking and organized crime, which explains my friend’s perception that Mexico is dangerous.

The United States and Mexico have a treaty called the Security and Prosperity Partnership. This partnership is largely based on US demands for security and does not constitute a strategic alliance for either country because neither has actively worked to create goals and projects for the relationship.

This need for a strategic partnership based on shared goals and projects was echoed by professor, Dr. Peter Smith. He stressed each country needs to figure out what it wants as a result of partnership with the other especially in relation to its position within the global arena. Dr. Smith proposed that Mexico has the potential to create strategic alliances with major world powers and use its position to become a leader of Central and South America.

José Antonio Fernández, Co-Chair of the Mexico Insitute Advisory Board and Professor Roderic Ai Camp, both focused on the social aspects of a strategic partnership. According to them, foreign policy does not reflect the attitudes of the public, but rather the elite.

The Mexican public is concerned with personal security, corruption and poverty and ambivalently separates feelings about the US government from the US public. They are interested in economic partnerships with American institutions. Several American universities have designed bilingual nurse preparatory schools in Mexico in order to attend to the healthcare worker shortage in the US. Other companies such as Walmart and Coca Cola have also created partnerships within Mexico.

In order for both countries to benefit economically, socially and politically, governments must come to the table with goals in mind and cooperation on the agenda. The bottom line is that until more partnerships are forged and the public is able to create their own opinions despite of negative media coverage, people like my friend will continue to feel ill at ease about our neighbor, Mexico.

Whether you have traveled there or not, share your thoughts about Mexico or how relations between the U.S. and Mexico can be improved. Join the discussion below!

More About Mexico
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