Donald Trump has said that if he is elected, he will build a wall along the entire length of the border between the United States and Mexico to stop
the flow of illegal immigrants from south of the border. Furthermore, he has said that it will be Mexico that will pay for the wall.
I don't think it is very practical to build a wall like that, but Mr. Trump's supporters seem to love the idea.
I think better results could be achieved through a "bureaucratic" solution involving payments from Mexico and from American companies who hire
illegals directly to State and Federal agencies concerned, designed to cover the costs of services used by illegal immigrants in the US, coupled with
an increase in the minimum wage, which would effectively take jobs away from illegals and hand them to Americans seeking employment at a living
wage.
But that's just me, and my plan wouldn't satisfy the need that Trump supporters seem to feel for a symbolic gesture of contempt aimed at Mexico.
That's the background.
What intrigue's me, though, is
how it will be arranged for Mexico to pay for the wall.
New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie, has said that
that is the sort of question people should be asking Donald Trump.
I don't know Donald Trump, so I can't ask Donald Trump, but I do know "Fatty" Castillo Lopez (Luis "El Gordo" Castillo Lopez, in the Mexican press),
so I asked him.
I ran into "Fatty" in a coffee shop in Woodbridge, just north of Toronto. (Cue theme from The Godfather.) He was in town to attend the nuptials of the
daughter of an important person. My reasons for being there were entirely fictitious, a literary matter. How could I tell this story if I wasn't
"there"?
"Fatty" is corpulent and sinister. Think of a cross between Sidney Greenstreet, Semion Mogilevich, Carmen Miranda, Cesar Romero as The Joker and "Gold
Hat" from
The Treasure of Sierra Madre.
For people with feeble imaginations, I include the following as clarification:
I usually include a photo of Michael Keaton as Beetlejuice, to reference my own appearance, but that is slightly misleading.
In fact I look exactly like Warren Oates in
Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia.
I saw "Fatty" as soon as I entered the restaurant and made a beeline for him, but I was intercepted by two "heavies" who grabbed me and started to
frisk me just as I was calling out a friendly, "Senor Lopez!".
"Fatty" looked up in annoyance at the commotion and, of course he knew me, so he waved the thugs away with a quick one handed gesture. They let me go
and I came right up to say hello to one of the most, uh . . . say hello to Senor Lopez.
"You are here, Eepy," he said, looking me up and down. And then, "How nice."
After a few pleasantries, when "Fatty" realized that I had something important to ask him, he sighed, glanced at his watch and motioned for me to sit
down. In a very small way, as a matter of courtesy, Fatty owes me.
"I am leaving momentarily", he said, as he lit a small cheroot in complete indifference to the "No Smoking" ordinance. "How can I help you?"
"Trump!" I said, looking him in the eye.
He chuckled, flicked some ash onto the floor and said, "Yes?"
"He says he is going to build a wall along the border with Mexico and that Mexico is going to pay for it."
He chuckled again and said "yes" again.
"Well, what do you think of that?"
Senor Lopez, "Fatty", said,
"I wish I were an American citizen. I would vote for Donald Trump. He is good for business."
"Senor Lopez, I am very surprised by this. I thought that you, as a Mexican, would be angry about this, and upset. It is an insult to Mexico. Even El
Chapo is angry about Trump."
"That was other remarks he made. El Chapo is not angry about the wall. It is a business opportunity."
"Trump says that Mexico will have to pay for the wall."
"Fatty" Lopez smiled. "Yes, Mr. Trump said that Mexico will have to pay for the wall and even more importantly, he said that
the United States will
build the wall."
"I don't understand."
"If he said that Mexico had to
build the wall, financial transactions connected to the wall would all take place in Mexico. Mexico would be
paying for the wall but the payments would never leave Mexico. It would be an infrastructure project, something like the Iraq War was, for the United
States. Yes, it costs a lot, but the payments are from treasury to corporations with influence within the United States."
"But this is different."
"That is right. In this case, the project is not being built inside Mexico by Mexicans. All the payments will be within the United States, from
treasury to corporations with influence. The problem is that Trump is going to try to force the Government of Mexico to make up the treasury debits
with payments from Mexico."
I said, "His supporters believe that that is what he is going to do. Make Mexico pay for the wall."
Senor Lopez smiled, "Yes, they believe that is what is going to happen."
"Well, what
is going to happen?"
"Mexico is going to make the United States pay the money to Mexico that Mexico will then use to pay the United States for the wall."
"How are they going to do that?"
"They are going to discuss the issue with people in a certain business that the Government of the United Stated does not like and they are going to
make an arrangement with those people and then they are going to
relax for as long as it takes to pay off the wall."
"Oh."
"Yes."
"I get it."
"Trump should consider demanding that
Mexico build the wall. It would be less trouble if all of the financial transactions took place within
Mexico."
"Uh . . ." I was going to ask another question but one of Fatty's thugs was gesturing toward a limo at the curb.
"It was a pleasure to see you again Eepy," he said, as he started to leave, grasping my hand with a little smile, "and don't come to Mexico."
"Right", I said. "I won't be back."
"Good for you", he said, and was gone.
edit on 1-3-2016 by ipsedixit because: (no reason given)