Because nothing unites two nations more than an intestinal plague
In a plot twist that not even the screenwriter of The Last of Us would have imagined, President Claudia Sheinbaum emerged as a national defender against the most unexpected villain: a worm that, it seems, has more geopolitical power than a trade agreement. The setting? A diplomatic crisis where the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) decided that Mexican cattle were as dangerous as a shipment of nuclear weapons… thanks to a bug that doesn’t even have a backbone.
When a parasite becomes a geopolitical excuse
“Mexico is not a piñata“, declared Sheinbaum with the solemnity of someone defending the national honor… in front of a larva. Because, of course, what better symbol of national sovereignty than a worm that probably doesn’t even know what country it is in? The president insisted that there is “collaboration” (that magic word that everyone uses when they really want to say “we don’t like it but we have to pretend“) with the Americans, although she made it clear that they do not plan to kneel at the altar of the USDA. Or should we say US-God?
From the National Palace —because these advertisements always taste better with a baroque background—, Sheinbaum presented a report from Secretary Berdegué (a name that, ironically, seems taken from a treatise on medieval plagues) detailing all the actions against the screwworm. Among them, surely, an army of trained chickens and a wall of pesticides on the southern border. Because if there is something that unites Mexico and the US, it is the ability to turn any problem into a debate about borders.
The most hilarious thing of all is that this worm—which sounds like the invention of a primary school child—achieved what years of migratory tensions have not achieved: paralyzing the livestock trade. What’s next? That they ban avocados because of a fungus with influencer pretensions? Of course, Sheinbaum assured that “soon” the measure will be lifted. Sure, “soon,” that time scale that runs from “tomorrow” to “when donkeys fly.”
Do you want more stories where reality surpasses the absurd? Share this article and discover how a worm became the protagonist of international diplomacy. #WormsRuling
