Summary
US companies exported 1.4 million tons of hazardous waste in 2022, nearly half of which went to Monterrey, Mexico.
Toxic substances from Zinc Nacional, a local recycling plant processing US steel dust, have polluted nearby homes, schools, and soil with lead, arsenic, and cadmium, exceeding US health thresholds by hundreds of times.
Experts call the waste trade “toxic colonialism,” citing Mexico’s weaker regulations and enforcement.
Residents report health issues, while the company claims compliance. Mexican authorities are investigating amid calls for stricter oversight and accountability.
System working as intended. It’s not intentionally being done to destabilize Mexico so that the US can have cheap labor and a depressed secondary market. But for some reason we’re not in the business of “nation building” in Mexico, like we were in say Iraq or Afghanistan. Even though the way narco cultura operate is very similar to ISIL/ISIS/ISI.
I dunno something to do with the petro dollar and needing a secondary manufacturing market where corporations can buy Chinese parts and assemble them to bypass tariffs and trade agreements.
Not to say that any nation building efforts would help the Mexican people, just that it’s convenient to have a cheap source of labor on our southern border. Especially one where through NAFTA corporations aren’t beholden to US Law.
See CocaCola for a prime example.