United States, the largest foreign group in the coun-
try, was undocumented.
Drug smuggling and gang warfare magnified the
border violations. Major and expanding Mexican
drug cartels operated from Tijuana, Juarez, and
the Gulf of Mexico. Smaller, competing groups
emerged throughout Mexico. Cartels compromised
the police and military, using bribery, blackmail,
and assassinations. In 1997, General Jesús Gutiérrez
Rebollo, Mexico’s antidrug czar, was arrested for ac-
cepting cartel money. Raul Salinas, the brother of
the president, was widely alleged to court financial
advantages from the cartels. In 1997, President
Clinton sent his antidrug czar, General Barry
McCaffrey, to confer with President Zedillo. From
Fort Bliss, Texas, the Pentagon expanded its military
monitoring that supported interagency antidrug
operations along the border.
Border Culture By decade’s end, 10 percent of
Mexico’s population lived along the U.S. border.
Moreover, the U.S. border population was the fastest-
growing in the country, attracted to the Sun-
belt. These mutually increasing populations aug-
mented the character of a hybrid culture growing
across the region since the middle of the twentieth
century.
Mexicans living in Baja California but working in
Southern California were described as “Mexifor-
nians.” The number of speakers of Spanglish, com-
bining Spanish and English, increased. Chicano
studies and literature expanded, and U.S. trade pub-
lishers launched unprecedented lines of books in
Spanish.
“Tex-Mex” described people living along or be-
tween Texas and Mexico and a cuisine that they de-
veloped characterized by the ingredients of cheese,
beef, beans, and chilies. Tejano music, intermixing
rock andcumbia, evolved with the Houston-based
group La Mafia. The group added electronic instru-
ments and created a bicultural pop-country genre. It
also launched the career of the Grammy-winning
Tejano artist Selena, whose murder by a fan in 1995
made national headlines.
Impact The 1990’s were a decade in which prob-
lems and opportunities in U.S.-Mexican relations
grew and an evolving hybrid culture became more
widely recognized and accepted.
Further Reading
Anderson, Joan B, and James Gerber.Fifty Years of
Change on the U.S.-Mexico Border: Growth, Develop-
ment, and Quality of Life.Austin: University of
Texas Press, 2008. Examines U.S.-Mexican rela-
tions during the 1990’s within a broader frame
beginning in the 1950’s. Includes photos.
Castañeda, Jorge G.The Mexican Shock: Its Meaning
for the United States. New York: New Press, 1995. A
prominent Mexican intellectual reflects on his
country in the mid-1990’s, finding it extraordi-
narily polarized. He believes, however, that
NAFTA will offer the opportunity to mold the
agreement into one of “growth with justice.”
Davidow, Jeffrey.The U.S. and Mexico: The Bear and the
Porcupine. Princeton, N.J.: Markus Wiener, 2004.
The author was U.S. ambassador to Mexico from
1998 to 2002. He examines recent U.S.-Mexican
relations, characterizing perceptions of the
United States as overbearing and of Mexico as
prickly or oversensitive.
Folsom, Ralph Haughwout.NAFTA and Free Trade in
the Americas in a Nutshell. 2d ed. St. Paul, Minn.:
West, 2004. A concise assessment of NAFTA in the
first ten years following its enactment. Provides
an overview of contemporary free trade policies
and practices in the context of the Western Hemi-
sphere. Includes the text of NAFTA.
Otero, Gerardo, ed.Mexico in Transition: Neoliberal
Globalism, the State, and Civil Society. Black Point,
N.S.: Fernwood, 2004. Examines the effects of
neoliberalism on Mexican economics, politics,
society, and culture, concentrating specifically on
the consequences of NAFTA.
Payan, Tony.The Three U.S.-Mexico Border Wars: Drugs,
Immigration, and Homeland Security. Westport,
Conn.: Praeger Security International, 2006. Sum-
marizes recent decades of history for the three
most contentious elements of relations between
the United States and Mexico, examining eco-
nomic, sociopolitical, and ethnic conditions.
Edward A. RiedingerSee also Business and the economy in the United
States; Demographics of the United States; Health
care; Immigration Act of 1990; Immigration to the
United States; Latinos; North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA); Selena.The Nineties in America Mexico and the United States 565