When my cousin Lucy arrived in Miami from Mexico, my first inclination was to ask, “How are things back home?” I didn’t want to say, “How are you feeling?” although I was really wondering if she had any symptoms of a cold. Influenza, maybe? She is, of course, always welcome in my home, but with swine-flu madness so widespread, it is best to take precautions.
“This is horrible for our country,” she said as we spoke about the epidemic that had, up to that point, killed around 150 people in Mexico and infected dozens more in several countries. “First it’s the narco-violence, now this. All this affects our tourism terribly.”
You would expect for her to be more concerned with the health and well-being of her compatriots than with the economic effects on her country, but her reaction is very similar to that of many Mexicans who have seen their country hit hard in recent times by a series of unfortunate events.
The violence in the war against drugs in Mexico has cost more than 8,000 lives since the beginning of last year. The level of drug-related brutality has been such that the United States government has offered help and has admitted its own responsibility in the problem as a drug-consuming nation. President Barack Obama promised to work to stem the flow of weapons from the U.S. However, the publicity surrounding the violence and the rash of kidnappings have caused fear among potential tourists.
Mexico’s economy has been affected not only by fear and the global economic crisis, but by the U.S.’s high unemployment rate. According to a report by Mexico’s Central Bank, remittances from the U.S. fell 3 percent in 2008, to $25 billion. In January of this year, they fell 11.95 percent -- that’s $1.57 billion. Mexico’s Central Bank estimates that the Mexican economy could contract anywhere between 3.8 percent and 4.8 percent by the end of 2009. That is without considering the negative effects of the swine-flu outbreak.
In the first week of the health crisis, several countries, like Cuba, Argentina and Ecuador, restricted their flights to and from Mexico. The United States recommended that its citizens avoid nonessential travel to Mexico. Some cruise lines responded to that warning by suspending stops in Mexican ports, dealing an even bigger blow to that nation’s economy.
The usually ebullient lifestyle in the world’s most populated city has given way to a desolate landscape. While many might welcome the ease in traffic, they are uneasy about the transformation Mexico City has undergone. The government ordered schools to remain closed until at least May 6. Movie theaters, bars and nightclubs were to remain closed. Concerts were canceled, sporting events were brought indoors.
The restaurant business is particularly affected in the Mexican capital, where there are at least 30,000 restaurants that employ 450,000 people. Most have been ordered to open for delivery or serve only those who take food home.
A typically friendly society has found itself apprehensive about human contact. Under these special circumstances, a cough is deemed suspicious and a simple sneeze can be considered an act of terrorism. The Mexican government has gone so far as asking people to do away with, for now, the traditional greeting of a handshake and kiss. He who is not wearing a protective mask is deemed a misfit. 
Mexican Nobel Prize-winning author Octavio Paz describes his compatriots in the book “Labyrinth of Solitude,” published in 1950, as “one who hides behind a mask to avoid opening himself to others.” Paz never could have imagined that -- almost six decades later -- his description would become so literal and so necessary.


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(Maria Elena Salinas is the author of “I AM MY FATHER’S DAUGHTER: LIVING A LIFE WITHOUT SECRETS.” Reach her at www
.mariaesalinas.com)
© 2009 by Maria Elena Salinas
Distributed by King Features Syndicate