Donald Trump has become a source of xenophobic and intolerant messages directed toward Latin America and Mexico, said Autonomous University of the State of Mexico (UAEM) Rector Jorge Olvera García. He said that today migration is one of the biggest challenges for the world and for humanity.
The academic called for tolerance, a respect for human dignity and harmony. Olvera García said that the Republican candidate’s stance has made him unpopular among the international community, in political circles as well as with academics and the civil society. These groups see him as a potential danger to diplomatic and economic relations and to the cultural exchange between nations that has strengthened connections over the years.
“The migration phenomenon is one of the most important challenges that the world faces,” Olvera García said. The immigration problem “won’t be solved by building a wall on the border with weapons pointed at migrants.”
Migration should be resolved through actions that work toward solving structural problems, like the lack of job spaces and the financial pressure in Ibero-American countries, he said. I should be resolved by establishing joint actions and projects which allow for the development of productive economy in countries that create migrants, the rector said.
Olvera García quoted the words of José Ángel Gurría, the Secretary General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OCDE), when he said, “Countries benefit from immigration if they consider migrants as a resource instead of a problem and policies for integrating them as an investment.”
The rector finished by saying that UAEM is an institution that believes in dignity for all, without making distinctions between ethnic origin, nationality, religious beliefs, gender, political ideology or sexual orientation. “At UAEM, we create dialogues for tolerance and respect and do not allow declarations of hate, prejudice or lack of respect to the Latin American people,” he said.
