Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu is a groundbreaking Mexican director who, I believe, lives for the most part in America now. He was the first-ever Mexican director to even get nominated for the Best Director Oscar, and he won back-to-back Best Director Oscars in 2015 and 2016, not to mention back-to-back Oscars for Best Picture (as a producer) and another Oscar for the Birdman screenplay. He is acclaimed, respected and admired, and he’s seen by many as a creative ambassador from Mexico, helping to speak about the cross-culture between the US and Mexico. Inarritu also has some thoughts about Donald Trump, obviously. Because despite what that Latinos for Trump douche would have us believe, Trump really only appeals to white dudes.
Anyway, Donald Trump went to Mexico last week. It was a last-minute thing, and it was basically Trump deciding to call the bluff of Mexican president Pena Nieto, who invited both candidates to Mexico to speak about our two countries’ relationship. According to Trump supporters, Trump’s visit was great and he looked presidential. According to everybody else, the visit and the aftermath was shambolic, undignified and horrible. So, Inarritu decided to use his position to write an open letter to President Nieto in El Pais – you can read the full piece here in Spanish, and here are some highlights:
Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu expressed his shock and disappointment in Mexico’s president for allowing presidential candidate Donald Trump to visit the country last week. In a scathing op-ed written for the Spanish newspaper El País, the Oscar-winning director shared his thoughts about the controversial visit.
In the op-ed, Iñárritu said the invitation from President Enrique Peña Nieto “is to endorse and validate someone who for more than a year insulted, spat upon and threatened us before the whole world,” adding that it only promoted “the political campaign of hatred towards [the Mexican people] towards half of humanity, and to the most vulnerable minorities on the planet.”
He went on to write that the visit was a history-making moment, which made it all the more insulting.
“Trump has had the [unprecedented honor of] being the first American candidate to visit our country, forever tainting the memory and history of our nation,” he wrote.
“Trump should have long ago been named by our government ‘persona non grata’ for exalting hatred and division in the country, and distorting this reality without any compassion,” he wrote. “After this event and as a Mexican citizen, Enrique Peña Nieto does not represent me and … is not worthy of representing any country.”
He also took the time to criticize Trump’s derogatory statements about Mexican people living in the United States.
“I have never in my life seen a Mexican begging on a street in the United States,” he wrote. “They work hard and honestly, contributing indispensably and benefiting the economy of both countries. But by mutual convenience, they remain a community of 11 million invisibles.”
While I understand it, it bothers me to see the backlash aimed at President Nieto. Nieto got played by an idiotic Cheeto, but I don’t doubt that Nieto’s heart was in the right place. Nieto’s numbers were lower than Trump’s even before Trump’s visit, and now they’re bottoming out completely. Like, Mexicans might even loathe their own president more than Senor Cheeto now. No bueno. But I appreciate that Inarritu is speaking his mind.
Photos courtesy of Getty, WENN.
I agree with Alejandro. Before he did this, Mexico really disliked their own President. He is the Bush of America. What he basically did was kiss the boot that was kicking him. I understand that diplomacy is more than necessary to lead a country, but you shouldn’t cater to Trump and you shouldn’t bend over to do what you think will appease him. Peña Nieto opened the doors for Trump to “look” validated and lot of us latinos are very disappointed by this decision. I agree with Kaiser, it was shambolic, undignified and horrible. #latinopride
It is widely known that Peña Nieto is a dumbass of the higher caliber. He was just confirming what everyone already thinks. And I would think if you want to call Alejandro by his last name people should use Gonzalez, no? It is a small thing but that is his last name. Iñarritu is his second last name so either call him Gonzalez Iñarritu or Gonzales or Alejandro but not just Iñarritu. I don’t know why that bothers me so much.
You’re not alone. This happens with asian actors as well. The press used to think Chow Yun Fat’s last name is Fat. It’s actually Chow. Chinese people always put the last name first and the first name last. It drove me nuts when the press did this.
Yes, it’s either President Peña or President Peña Nieto. The Peña is the father’s name and the Nieto is the mother’s name. If only one name is used, don’t use the final part of the two-part name but rather the first part. Likewise, this fellow is Alejandro Gonzalez if you are not using his full name. When in doubt, use the full name.
Holly Hobby – it’s even more complicated with Asian names, since often they do reverse the order in Western countries because they know we will reverse it improperly otherwise. Hungarians do the same thing, so Lugosi Bela and Bartok Bela reversed the natural order in Hungarian to become Bela Lugosi and Bela Bartok elsewhere (since the family names are Lugosi and Bartok).
The problem with Asian names is that many Westerners just don’t know what are family names and what are personal names. The Chinese are often kindly enough to hyphenate the personal name, which helps. I have to run around the web a lot trying to sort it out myself for citations and authors since I translate scientific papers whose original authors were Chinese or Japanese, translated into a non-English language, and the translators into my source languages (such as Russian) often get the order wrong because they can’t tell either… At least for one client, the department head is of Chinese extraction so he can always figure it out! I have a better sense for Japanese names so usually I can spot when the Russians mistook the family name for the personal name. I get suspicious that they have done the same for European type names when I see a string of authors “J. Mary, H. Peter, and R. Étienne”… Middle Eastern names likewise get garbled routinely.
So it’s not lack of respect but the reality that sorting it out properly can be quite a challenge. Evaluating web sources is a headache, since they can be just as wrong. Often the best way is to find the web page of someone with a similar name who is actually a US citizen or resident and working in a US company or university. They’ll use the Western order of their names there.
To be fair, Peña extended the same invitation at the same time to Hillary Clinton. There was no way Peña could have known that Trump would jump the usual long-term planning protocols for state visits and show up in Mexico on Wednesday when he was just invited the day before on Tuesday …. Nobody does that! Generally the new US President schedules meetings quickly with the heads of state for Mexico and Canada.
Loved the way Peña insisted at least twice on Twitter that he told The Donald very clearly that Mexico would never pay for The Wall, when The Donald was first trying to say payment wasn’t discussed and then a few hours later at a rally was insisting again that Mexico was going to pay for it. Peña said he told The Donald “no, we won’t” right at the very beginning of their private discussion. It’s so ridiculous, nobody in their right mind would expect Mexico to pay for Trump’s stupid wall.
He is 100% right ! this Mexican president has truly no dignity at all.
I agree and co sign to everything Inarritu says here. Do not feel sorry for the president of Mexico he is a grown man and a politician he knew exactly what he is doing by meeting the pumpkin lattee impersonator. He should be called out. I would go even further and say that this was a form of treason by Nieto.
THANK YOU SM Peña Nieto is Craven as F*ck corrupt, running a Narco state well aware of it but too busy Vacationing and trying to sell himself as the new hip face of Mexico or some such, this letter was an earth scorcher and rightly so!
@SM. ‘Pumpkin latte impersonator’ is going on my list. Thank you.
I havent followed the story after President Nietos tweet but I thought the whole thing to be the biggest political blunder a Mexican president could make. Whether or not his bluff was called, he handled the whole thing terribly and he handed Trump a PR coup on Mexican soil among other things. Of course his people hate him.
Yeah you would think anyone living in Mexico would have stronger feelings about their own president than a foreign candidate
Apparently Trump in piñata form is popular in Mexico… But yeah, they can’t stand him. They dislike Trump even more than they dislike Peña.
I was born and raised in Mexico, I live in the US now and am a dual citizen. President Peña Nieto is the worst president Mexico has seen in decades. The man and his wife – soap opera actress – live in opulence. Bought a mansion in Mexico worth millions of dollars with tax payer money. A few months back, it was discovered that a construction company with a lot of government contracts is paying taxes on a private luxury apartment for the First Lady in Miami. Last week, we found out that the president plagiarized his college thesis. I mean this dude is equally hated if not more by Mexicans than Trump. His heart is not in the right place. Just google atrocities by the PRI party, Paulette tragedy and everything Enrique Peña Nieto did as governor.
Let’s not even go into Ayotzinapa and the mass graves and lawlessness all over the place but the Government makes more priority of suppressing the press and whatnot, he is disgusting as is his daughter
Justice will come. Look at Argentina – we’re rounding them up and they will have to pay for what they’ve done to us. Their ill gotten money will be taken and they will have to run to Venezuela to avoid jail time.
There is no place in Latin America for leftist, populist governments.
Thank you! This man is an absolute disgrace, needs to be ousted ASAP and it annoys me that so few people, especially in the USA, pay attention or even remotely know about him. The press pushes on the drug cartel narrative but rarely focuses in on Nieto and his head turning government.
This. Peña is a criminal. On his hands there is thr blood of so many people: Atenco, Tatlaya, Ayotzinapa and Nochixtlan were crimes of state.
Alejandro is an artist.
Politics is like a big, fat, old whore, not prostitute, but whore. Of course I agree with him, but on the other hand, why waste time on politicians. Mark Twain — ‘If voting made any difference they wouldn’t let us do it.’
“Mark Twain — ‘If voting made any difference they wouldn’t let us do it.’”
I’ve always appreciated that lazy and fatalistic quote from a man in a country that regularly tries to follow the will of its people’s votes. Like if you can be that negative about voting when you’re not getting threatened and denied your right to do it you must live in a wonderful country indeed.
Voting does make a difference that’s why Republicans in the US are trying to put up laws to prevent minority’s from voting. Also why elections are not held on a weekend.
Artists are people too who care about making the world better.
Well, at the age of 25, I can actually get married in my state. That would not have been possible if Barack Obama had lost to McCain in 2008 because McCain would have placed conservatives on the SC. Voting matters for some of us.
That’s what all the Bremain politicians in Britain told themselves. And 72% of the voting public came out. Better than a general election turn out since these things started and voila! Brexit.
Voting can make a difference. To not vote because you think it won’t count is to find yourself saddled with President Trump because you can be sure his supporters will vote.
It’s completely and utterly baffling why Nieto, or anyone in the Mexican government, would think to allow Trump into Mexico after all the vile things Trump has said. Shame on Nieto, shame on Trump. It truly makes you wonder what is going on behind closed doors right now. I know this sounds dramatic but I really despair for humanity these days…the world has gone completely bonkers. There’s nothing left to be said, really…
Edited because I don’t want a political battle on a celebrity website, I usually know better.
But telling me to calm down “honey,” is rude.
Yeah, the Supreme Court made sure of that, didn’t they?
Bush was a failure of a president, the only thing he’s earned is the right to be charged with war crimes and treason, IMHO.
Anyhoo, I loved Alejandro’s open letter, especially the end…
Trump should have never been allowed into the country but I’m not surprised, Nieto is as corrupt as corrupt can get.
I’d rather save myself the trouble, it is his last name, and that title came and went. Clinton, Nixon, Reagan, Putin, Bush. Calm down honey, you a fan?
It wasn’t meant to be a political battle, nor did I see it as wrong. Your attitude made it irksome and people all over the world refer to leaders by their last name.
Nieto has NO heart. Google “Los 43 de Ayotzinapa.”
Peña Nieto is a disgrace. He is very, very corrupt. Lady Macbeth would have suited him perfectly.
I went to a Trump rally for a college project I was working on. It was very interesting, actually.
The attendees were abundantly white but there were some minorities, too. I saw a family of Mexicans wearing “Mexico for Trump” shirts, and when I interviewed them they gave more or less the same arguments as that man covered the other day, saying “Mexico is a really corrupt place”, “Mexican culture will erase American culture” and that “Mexico is filled with lazy people and criminals and America should try to keep them away”. It really caught my attention that a group of latinos would refer to this country as America.
I also saw a black couple. When I interviewed them, they talked about how Obama is a fraud and how he was promoted as being a change but never changed anything. From the way they spoke you could tell they really hated Obama. They apparently didn’t know Obama is not running for reelection, because when I asked them what they liked about Trump they laughed and said “he’s not Obama”.
What I found most interesting is the male to female ratio was actually even. When I asked women how they felt Trump would help us, they gave me answers such as:
– “Islam is the main enemy of women right now. Islam is taking over the world, you can see what happened in Europe now where women are all forced to wear veils around their heads so they can look muslim and not get killed” That was a literal answer. Many women said similar things, regarding how Trumps anti-Islam stance makes him a feminist.
– “Trump understands that women and men are not the same but they both fullfill a very important role in society. Clinton is just a pawn, she’s not what a woman should be”.
– “He really cares about women, I can see it in the way he treats his wife. She always looks gorgeous. Hillary always looks worn out and tired, you can tell she’s in an unhappy marriage”
I’m tired of writing but there were so many crazy answers. Not covering the answers from white guys because they all said what you’d expect them to. One did say he didn’t want Hillary to win because being ruled by a woman would make us look “whipped” internationally.
Sadly I think for a lot of Mexicans that support Trump there’s a sense of “No he’s talking about those OTHER Mexicans”
The sad reality of life is that for as much as many of us know how racism and discrimination works there are also those who believe if they follow all the ‘rules’ and align themselves with the power structure that they’ll be safe. We all know that in the end this never works.
Skin tone is skin tone and xenophobia takes no prisoners, you’re either a puppet or a pawn but you’re not an equal member. I find it fascinating Trump has a higher percentage of support among Mexicans than blacks (never been more proud to see 1%) and wonder about the political and sociological reasons why.
I think the majority of blacks know it’s never the ‘other guy’ and even if you’re in a three piece suit and tie working in corporate America when someone starts lambasting your race they’re including you whether they realized it or not.
I think for many Mexicans the idea is ” We came here legally, we’re all on the same team. It’s not about racism, right guys? Right?” when the truth is…
There’s so much self-loathing in the latin community. I am shocked and saddened by it. I would never turn my back to my own country, to my culture and heritage. I would criticise it, of course, but to renounce it? To insult my own countrymen and women?
Do these people not realise that the rest still hate them? Just because you support Trump doesn’t mean his supporters will like and accept you.
In my experience as a black American other POC often don’t get American racism. It is all about color in the US. Nationality is secondary. You are white or you aren’t. If you aren’t white you are other and lesser. It’s not a complicated issue. It’s sad to see the shock on a non black POC’s face when they are treated as many black Americans are be it overt or not. The racial divide exists because white people wrongly feel this is their country and the rest of us are just living in it on their sufferance and we need to stay in our lane.
Yes you said it both so perfectly.
@Cee
Sadly I think so many of them think they can buy/support their way to safety and acceptance. I don’t know why since there’s SO many examples to show its not typical but I guess desperate people will believe anything.
@Cran
So true. I often have to bite my tongue with other POC when they speak passionately about a system of equality that doesn’t exist. Skin tone is the test, no matter how conservative you think you are or if you believe in the same things economically you’re simply not white. You can aid in helping those who would turn on you just as Trump and his ilk have so expertly shown. Now you see Republican Mexicans and Blacks saying how frustrated they are, as if the writing wasn’t on the wall for decades and they weren’t just ignoring it.
It’s so disconcerting and confusing how a country like the US can contain so many adult citizens that express themselves as so uneducated, undereducated, ignorant, almost infantile. So many of the chronically and oft repeated arguments for Trump, and anti-Hillary, are so antiquated and anachronistic, as if it’s not 2016, but 1900. Misogynistic, prejudiced, hypocritical, that is what you must be to defend Trump, and none of these traits create a sustainable and successful society. I truly believe that if Trump wins the election, the US will stumble even further back in all realms: political, economic, intellectual, academic, ecological. Everything. Trump and Pence’s administration will be given free reign to implement “Opposite Day”. Everything President Obama and Hillary Clinton fought so hard to maintain and bring to citizens will be wiped out: accessible healthcare, women’s rights, environmental protections, LGBTQ community rights, global community involvement, all decimated. Things she wanted to implement like gun CONTROLS, working and middle class betterment, affordable post-secondary education, kiss it goodbye. Optically, all issues stereotypically left-wing, and therefore easily dismissed as weak-kneed and wasteful by staunch Republicans. Issues Trump has never ever had to care about, and will be easily swept away without a second thought.
I live in Cananda, we are not perfect, but i believe our history of social welfare and inclusive policy fundamentals colours all decisions that have created the country we are today. It is in our DNA as a nation, and though we struggle with disillusionment and inequality as well, I like to think we could or would not do a 180 to solve those problems. We would not threaten our fundamental values to pander to a bigoted and hateful citizenry. That is not how nations move forward, it is how growth and development are suppressed.
I wish our southern neighbours all the best. For all our sakes I hope Trump is defeated. Resoundingly.
(Local CBC radio just played interviews with Trump supporters… Sorry for the rant)
@Teebee, you make too much sense for Trumplicans to understand. But great post.
said well.
Wow this is all very interesting. Thanks for sharing your findings!
Obama was to meet with the President of the Phillipines when the man essentially told him to mind his business about the Phillipines drug problem and that he was the son of a whore.
Guess what Obama did? Cancel the meeting.
There’s diplomacy and then there’s stupidity. Anyone with common sense would have known how Donald would play this, to be frank however I have been somewhat surprised by the silence among Mexican celebrities in not speaking out more forcefully against Donald Trump. I think President Nieto like many others thinks it’s a case of, “No he’s talking about those OTHER Mexicans.”
Nieto is a powerful and corrupt asshole and Trump is a powerful and corrupt asshole. Nieto sees a business partner in him. Nieto doesnt care about “the other” Mexicans or any Mexicans at all, and his whole presidency is irrefutable proof of it.
Please educate yourself before painting latin people as naive idiots in need of American approval.
“Please educate yourself before painting latin people as naive idiots in need of American approval”
I don’t see where I did that at all so you’ll need to point it out to me.
Mexican president Nieto has only a 23% approval rating in his own country. He is, to put it mildly, THEIR Donald Trump.
Trump’s motive for the Mexico trip was obvious. He was pandering to mexican americans. Nieto’s motive allowing Trump into Mexico wasn’t obvious. I didn’t understand it.
$$ ?
(cheeto $)
I didn’t know much about thr Mexican president – only that heis qife is Anhelica Rivera, that I know from TV and he did a little walk with Formula 1′ Sergio Perez.
After reading all this info on him and his ‘achievements’ I understand why Trump had the balls to say that Mexico would pay for that stupid wall that no one wants. (even though Pena denied it later).
Peña Nieto is shady AF. He plagiarized his thesis and apparently there’s something going on with public funds and a 10M house his wife bought.
Not to mention the disappearance and death of students.
Honestly the only thing to recommend him is that he’s young and good looking. Everything else is just flashy lights.
Yeah, I am starting to get the image about this new generation leader. I also don’t think Mexico is alone in having shitty and corrupt representatives. If we take a look around us, there is a very serious reason why we are where we are.
And there are also lots of new, young leaders that disappoint, unfortunately, not just the older ones.
There was no need for Peña Nieto to invite both candidates. Invite them once the election is over and one becomes President. Do not receive them with all the pomp and fanfare reserved for heads of state and dignitaries.
Peña Nieto lowered himself to Trump’s level and attempted to kiss ass. He put Mexico in that position, too. As if the people of Mexico have to prove their worthiness to Trump, begging him please to let them live on.
I live in mexico city and we hate peña Nieto. He’s a puppet, an idiot. No one in mexico knew he was bringing Trump to our country. We felt played.
I’m mexican, living in mexico and it’s very clear here that he’s just a puppet put in charge so he’d be easy to manipulate. Time and time he has shown how he’s incredibly ignorant. The worst thing about the visit was that he said that basically we had all misunderstood Trump’s comments and that his heart was in the right place. REALLY?? Ugh I can’t
If he is a puppet then who, exactly, is pulling the strings? PRI? Different carteles?
The one and only reason Trump was invited to the Mexico is because it was getting to hot for comfort for Nieto on him plagiarizing his thesis. No other reason, This is a proven thing he does every time he is in the hot seat for one thing he does another thing to make the people “forget” what he did before.
As a proud Mexican myself, I felt horrified and humiliated when I got the news that Peña invited Trump.
I agree with Alejandro, Mexicans will never forget or forgive this. September is the month of our independence our “national” month, and we are inmersed in the worst crisis in recent history. My beautiful country is currently a narco state, a place ruled by assh0les and corrupts that kill their own people. And now, our criminal president is making a fool of himself and let a racist pig humilates us.
Peña is a criminal himself and so are his people in the government. I might sound way overdramatic but I can’t see how are we going to survive his term, our country is falling apart, police brutality and crime keep on rising.