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Writer ignorant of the issues

To the editor,

This Monday's Dan Cassino article, "Mexico should take the border money and run," shows how sometimes no news is better than any news. It amazes me how the editor of this paper would let somebody so ignorant write a column. It is not the fact that he doesn't know what in God's name he's talking about that bothers me, but rather the way he decides to make stuff up has he goes along with this mockery.

He is right only on one thing, the Mexican government has "flip-flopped" with entrance fees. However, it is for different reason pointed out by Cassino. In the last few years Mexico has hit a rock-bottom crises, as a result of this crises, the prices of products have gone up including the price of automobiles. Due to the fact that cars are cheaper in the United States, a lot of Mexicans have seen a solution to their problems by buying a car from the United States. However, this creates a problem for automobile industries back in Mexico. Thus, the Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo gets pressured by Automotive Industry Owners to seek a way to solve this problem. Furthermore, the fee is not charged when you cross the border, it is charged only to people that will pass the limit area of forcing product tolerance (kilometer 21). This measure was taken to discourage the people that smuggle cars to the southern cities of the State of Sonora. And it was in the State of Sonora where the decision was made, not in Mexico City. Of course Dan Cassino wouldn't know where the State of Sonora is at, because he only seems to know that there is a "Nogales" and a "Mexico City" across the border.

Furthermore, although it is true that many of the Mexican government offices are not that efficient, it is also true that I've come across incompetence from some U.S. officials. Provided the experience of thousands of Mexicans that cross the border everyday, U.S. border officials are not only not efficient, they're also really rude and have little to no manners. So please, don't even go there.

As a final note I would like to say to Dan Cassino what some people from across the border would say : "If you don't know what you're talking about, just shut the -- up."

Eduardo Santander

Economics major