“I’m not going to pay for that fucking wall,” Vicente Fox, the former president of Mexico, told me in an interview last week. In fact, Donald Trump “should pay for it,” Fox said. “He’s got the money.”
So Who’s Paying for the Wall?
Cuba Libre?
Pope Francis and President Obama are the best friends that Cuba could hope for. Both leaders have resolved to ally with the Castro regime, despite its decadeslong record of repression, censorship and human rights violations. The mystery is why.
If I Could Interview the Pope …
What journalist wouldn’t want to interview Pope Francis? Few people are more intriguing than the spiritual leader of the world’s more than 1.2 billion Roman Catholics. But getting a few minutes of face time with him is no easy task.
The New Face of America
My son, Nicolas, is turning 18 this summer, and he’ll be voting for the first time later this year. Nicolas probably doesn’t realize it yet, but in the November election he and millions of other young Latinos could determine who the next president will be.
El Chapo: Mexico’s Latest Telenovela
The notorious drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman may be locked up (again), but it would be naive to assume that his recapture will significantly improve the well-being of more than 120 million Mexicans.
The Mysteries of Iowa
When the plane’s doors opened after we landed in Des Moines, a frigid draft blew through the cabin. I checked the temperature on my phone: zero degrees Fahrenheit. As someone born in Mexico and tempered in Florida, I felt almost frozen.
Deporting the Most Vulnerable
I don’t know exactly how we got here, but rather than discussing the influence that Hispanic voters can wield in the upcoming presidential election or how lawmakers can pass commonsense immigration legislation, we’re back to focusing on deportations in America.
Cuba Is Still a Dictatorship
Sometimes those of us who live outside Cuba forget that the country remains a dictatorship. But for the 11 million people living on the island, forgetting is impossible — they live the consequences every day.
Turning Your Back on Immigrants Is a Betrayal
The children of immigrants in America tend to take on two responsibilities: They care for their immigrant parents, and they care for other immigrants as if they were their own parents. That has been a noble American tradition for over two centuries. Few things are sadder or more treacherous than closing the door to immigrants who came after us, which is what some U.S. presidential candidates want to do.
Going Home
We’re stuck. It’s almost midnight, and Mexico City’s airport doesn’t have enough gates to accommodate all the flights that are landing. So we wait: a half-hour in an airliner at a standstill, then another half-hour in a small bus, then an hour in line at customs. By daybreak, there is a chill in the air. But it doesn’t matter. I’m finally home, for a little while — to see my mother, my siblings and the city I left almost 33 years ago.