MATAMOROS, Tamaulipas — The controversial move by the Obama Administration that cancelled the longstanding “Wet Foot-Dry Foot” policy for Cubans went largely unnoticed in Mexico.
The move was reported primarily through short news wire stories in Mexico’s main outlets, however the news cycle went by without opinion pieces or heated debates as to how the policy could affect Mexico. Television pundits and social justice warriors focused their debates largely on more regional topics overlooking the possible effects that the new policy could have.
Border cities in Mexico have generally been used by Cubans as a way to arrive to the U.S. usually through an international bridge and request entry. Under the now defunct Wet Foot-Dry Foot practice, they were placed at the top of the line and after a year they could request a U.S. residency and an eventual path to citizenship. The shift could lead to an increase of Cuban nationals being lured to stay in Mexico where drug cartels control all of the human smuggling activities.
Most of the news outlets in Mexico continue to be focused on the radical increase in gas prices and the lack of a response by the federal government to resolve it. As Breitbart Texas has been reporting, a series of obscure government reforms by Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto have resulted in a series of dramatic spikes in the price of gasoline. That rise in price has led to violent protests, looting, and rioting throughout the country. The growing dissent over the gas prices and the ongoing cartel violence continue to dominate the news cycles.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and Stephen K. Bannon. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.