Mexico, the Phantom Topic at the Convention

CHICAGO. Mexico has been present, but at the same time absent, from the discussions and pronouncements of the Democratic National Convention.

The word Mexico has barely been mentioned and, in fact, hardly figures at all, if at all, in the 2024 Democratic Electoral Platform.

Well, except for mentions of cartels, trade, the border, or human traffickers, which were frequently cited but usually without the accompanying word "Mexico," except in the occasional context when Kamala Harris, then Attorney General of California, crossed the border to meet with her Mexican counterparts. Other than that...

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Only the fierce Israeli intervention in Gaza, in retaliation for the Palestinian group Hamas's attack on October 8, and the fate of the hostages - including some Americans - still in captivity, has resonated, largely due to the constant presence of pro-Palestinian protesters - even a handful of delegates - and pro-Israel counter-protesters.

Similarly, the Russian invasion of Ukraine was part, though a much smaller part, of the conversation.

Beyond that, the truth is that this convention was characterized by its insularity. More than anything, by the need to present Kamala Harris to an audience that noticed her presence when President Joe Biden was forced to abandon his re-election ambitions to make way for someone younger, with more energy, and without the weight of frustrated expectations that had already been placed on the current president.

And of course, to now-vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz, governor of the state of Minnesota, up there near the Canadian border, better known for his football team, the Vikings, and his baseball team, the Twins, than for anything else.

There was certainly a defense of the border as a whole and criticism of Republican Donald Trump for having no idea what that region is like, which he has so often used to try to create concern and even fear among Americans over issues ranging from migration and its evils, especially the "hundreds of thousands" of people attacked or killed by undocumented immigrants, or by drug cartels and fentanyl, or the possibility that "terrorists" from anywhere in the world could infiltrate through that 3,000-kilometer-long line.

The Democrats have responded, not in defense of Mexico, but because of the importance that the Mexican government's cooperation has for President Joe Biden's immigration and border security proposals, and by extension, for the now-Democratic presidential candidate, Vice President Harris.

The growing presence of Hispanic lawmakers of Mexican origin was noted in the reports on the increasing importance of the Hispanic minority on the U.S. political and economic map. But the absence of mentions of Mexico may be a cause for concern, not because it reflects indifference, but quite the opposite.

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