Causes of Underdeveloped Conditions in Mexico

Dear Editor,
    Re: “Point Austin: Feet on the Ground” [News, May 7]: If the United States is the cause of the underdeveloped conditions in Mexico and points south, then Latin America would have had to have been a workers' paradise, or perhaps at least a civil place to live for the majority of its citizens before the British set foot in North America in 1604, or perhaps the capitalist economic system we understand today emerged following the American Revolution. This assertion seems no more defensible than “The United States, particularly in its economic policies and the international behavior of its corporate businesses, has mightily helped to create the underdeveloped conditions south of the border that inevitably feed illegal immigration.” Mexico could create a legal infrastructure that would give its citizens no reason to leave. The cultural and political norms of the country are just now evolving in that direction, often based on the experiences of Mexicans in the United States.