An American friend told me about her experiences in Monterrey, Mexico, to which she was invited by a family who lived as one would in the United States: their children study at the university, they have three cars and they love the United States, which they frequently visit. She felt that Monterrey was very similar to cities in this country, and she wondered why Mexicans want to leave it and come work here.
Influences and interactions between regions and countries have occurred throughout history. The difference today is that one country, the United States, is the most advanced and wealthy on the planet, and it influences and dictates the agendas of almost all the others. The ideas and goals of the French and American Revolutions in the late 18th century inspired the men behind the various South and Central American revolutions in their battles against the yoke of their powerful European masters. After gaining the status of “independent nations,” however, they were not actually free from economic dependence on their former masters—principally because of a lack of resources. They remained essentially as economic and ideological colonies.
As an independent nation, the United States did not follow this rule. Though a former British colony, it soon became a powerful force, overshadowing European countries on the world stage and becoming the only hegemonic and dominant country in the world after the end of the Cold War and the fall of the U.S.S.R.
There is almost no group, region or country that dares oppose the quasi-imperial schemes of the United States, regardless of how good or bad they might be, because the latter possesses the most powerful and sophisticated army and weapons in the world. Many innocent countries have paid for crossing the hegemonic highway of the United States; the list is long. Others have regretted their attacks and provocations against the superpower.
The United States has developed into one of the richest and most sophisticated societies in history. Thousands of inventions have originated here, from medicines and vaccines that save lives to bombs capable of destruction on a planetary scale. Add to those every imaginable thing to promote comfort and quality of life, from telephones and automobiles to computers and the Internet—all contributing to the excessive consumerism necessary for the survival of the country’s economic system.
Our advantages are such that very few people are able to ignore them, and the majority admires, desires and envies them. Our technological advances give us a tremendous dominance over the rest of the world and the influence of our lifestyle is present in every corner of the planet, even as most of the world’s inhabitants continue to live in poverty and dependence.
In Mexico, my friend observed, considered among the top 15 world economies, there are areas where one can live in sophistication and ease similar to that available in Marin County. At the same time, more than half the country’s 120 million inhabitants live in poverty, a fact that partly explains the immigration phenomenon. In this Mexico, technological progress is practically non-existent and little is done to promote it. The country’s economy is dependent on foreign investment and exports to the United States. So far, no Mexican president has been able to do much about these asymmetries.
Many believe the United States needs the developing countries for their natural resources and cheap labor, so that we may live well: in order to be rich, wealthy countries need the poor ones. This equation can be difficult to see and understand for those who have the advantage of living in the North; even those who visit impoverished countries, though they may be good and honest people, can ignore that reality.
There is a long and growing list of this country’s exports to the world. They range from films and television series to clothing, music, Santa Claus and the Christmas tree (although December is summertime in South America, so the tree and snow are artificial and the fireplace is cardboard), awards like the Oscars, architectural styles, stores, ways to buy and sell and much more. These exports often have little to do with the local cultures that receive them.
Over time, some countries have even adopted Halloween. In Mexico, it was renamed Día de Brujas, or Day of the Witches. There are costume parties and in some schools, the children dress up. In the wealthier neighborhoods they might “trick or treat.” Although almost everything created in the United States is adopted in countries whose inhabitants would like to be like us, there is one celebration that doesn’t reproduce, and that is Thanksgiving. It is unique to this country and Canada.
Victor Reyes is a translator, teacher, writer and native of Puebla, Mexico.