"Any Mexican, would recognise that Mexico was abused, undervalued and downgraded in international circles, most of all by the United States"
About this Quote
The line is a diplomat's controlled detonation: a national grievance framed as self-evident fact. By starting with "Any Mexican", Aguilar Zinser collapses debate into identity, implying that to disagree is to be either naive or insufficiently Mexican. It's a move designed to convert private resentment into public consensus, the emotional fuel needed when a country tries to renegotiate how it's treated.
The verbs do the heavy lifting. "Abused" signals not mere neglect but violation; "undervalued" invokes an economic register, as if Mexico's worth has been deliberately marked down; "downgraded" borrows the language of status rankings, the social equivalent of a credit rating hit. Together they sketch a pattern: Mexico isn't just misunderstood, it's been systematically placed beneath its actual weight. The phrasing "international circles" sounds genteel, almost clubby, which sharpens the accusation: the insult isn't shouted, it's administered through meetings, trade terms, security cooperation, and the quiet choreography of who gets listened to.
Then comes the pivot that matters: "most of all by the United States". The subtext is asymmetry. Mexico's global reputation and room to maneuver are constrained less by its own diplomacy than by its proximity to a superpower that sets narratives and terms. Coming from Zinser - who served during the post-NAFTA era and clashed publicly with Washington - the intent reads as both diagnosis and warning: if Mexico accepts a subordinate script, it will be treated like one; if it challenges it, the relationship will get tense before it gets honest.
The verbs do the heavy lifting. "Abused" signals not mere neglect but violation; "undervalued" invokes an economic register, as if Mexico's worth has been deliberately marked down; "downgraded" borrows the language of status rankings, the social equivalent of a credit rating hit. Together they sketch a pattern: Mexico isn't just misunderstood, it's been systematically placed beneath its actual weight. The phrasing "international circles" sounds genteel, almost clubby, which sharpens the accusation: the insult isn't shouted, it's administered through meetings, trade terms, security cooperation, and the quiet choreography of who gets listened to.
Then comes the pivot that matters: "most of all by the United States". The subtext is asymmetry. Mexico's global reputation and room to maneuver are constrained less by its own diplomacy than by its proximity to a superpower that sets narratives and terms. Coming from Zinser - who served during the post-NAFTA era and clashed publicly with Washington - the intent reads as both diagnosis and warning: if Mexico accepts a subordinate script, it will be treated like one; if it challenges it, the relationship will get tense before it gets honest.
Quote Details
| Topic | Justice |
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