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Other Than Tacos, Tequila and Mariachis: The Estrada Doctrine

For many latinos in the United States in particularly Mexican Americans or Chicanos, Mexico’s doctrine of non-intervention Estrada Doctrine is unheard of.[1] It is as invisible as thin air. For the most part our contribution as Mexican Americans is mostly contained on what is beneficial to a country known as the global champion of interventions.

Two current Mexican American L.A councilmen have (or forced since both are up for re-election in June 2022) sided in favor of war without any thorough historical geo-political investigation toward the origin of conflict in that part of the world.[2]

Should we pride our heritage only on tacos, arepas, pupusas, tequila or Mariachis? Or should we pride ourselves as a community to have the first Latin@/Chican@ astronaut, the first Supreme Court judge, the first of this and that? Can we go beyond the being first individualized syndrome?

How about taking pride and advocating our historical progressive contribution to the world as Chican@s, the Estrada Doctrine as a doctrine of peace, of mutual respect, of non-intervention in the internal affair of another country.[3]

Why participate in extending the Monroe Doctrine from “America para los americanos” to the “world para los americanos.”

What of Latin America’s Tlatelolco Treaty of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons in Latin America. It is another progressive political contribution to the world. This is our heritage as Latinos and Mexican Americans that stems from our parents’ history that is not taught except hawkish and antagonizing imperial policies of war. [4]

We teach our children about peace, artists are hired to come to schools and paint Gandhi, Mother Teresa, doves, Martin Luther King, smiling faces and side with war at the same time. For writer Vijay Prashad “All wars are ugly and have a criminal aspect to them.”[5]

Global peace depends on the security of all and not on behalf of un-securing someone else or plundering the natural resources of most of our world neighbors.

Dedicated to all the children of the world.

 

  1. https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/english/mexicos-foreign-policy-principle-non-intervention
  2. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-03-10/city-candidates-criticize-democratic-socialists-ukraine-nato
  3. https://www.jornada.com.mx/2020/07/06/opinion/019a2pol
  4. https://www.un.org/nwfz/content/treaty-tlatelolco
  5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiTxlyiKVT0&feature=youtu.be