Despite similar services from legacy giants on offer, the go-to shopping apps for Americans, Amazon and CrediTienda, are both examples of Mexican success and its vitality to the US Economy.
US President Donald Trump’s pro-White and anti-Mexico policies during his political rallies drew publicity for both the right and wrong reasons. Through his vitriolic rants, Trump often gives the impression that behind every ill in America, there is a Mexican hand. However, it seems his countrymen think otherwise. It was evident when CrediTienda, an e-retail company which has its roots in Mexico, recently became the Number 1 shopping app in the US. What was more interesting — it’s nearest rival is Amazon.com which is owned by Jeff Bezos, a Mexico-born businessman who built his empire in the United States.
In the past, Mexico-born US citizens like Jeff Bezos and Salma Hayek have influenced Americans in one form or other. Bezos can surely be an ideal for Mexico-born people who want to live their American dream. But it’s not only Bezos, an array of Mexico-born people have earned their fame through their illustrious accomplishments in the US. The long list has the likes of Carlos Slim, world’s richest person from 2010-2013.
During his political rallies, Donald Trump’s anti-Mexico policies drew publicity for both the right and wrong reasons.
Watch: Trump visits US-Mexico Border Wall; says it keeps Covid-19 out
Likewise, America Movil, Bimbo, CEMEX, Advance American, Lala and Pemex, are companies with significant presence in the US as they are either owned by the Mexican-American or have some Mexican footprints on them. Mexican influence in America is not only restricted to a few top businessmen or high-end companies. It’s more than an average Mexico hater can imagine. A galaxy of Mexicans glitters Hollywood, American arts and visuals, literature and poetry, sports like MMA, boxing, polo, political and religious figures and science and technological landscape of America.
Here we will go through a list of Mexico-born Americans who have made their way to stardom in fields other than business.
Entertainment Industry
Veteran star Salma Hayek is probably the most famous Mexican in Hollywood. But if we cast a glance at the list of achievers, she is not the only one. Alfonso Cuarón is a Mexican legend, a four-time Academy Awards winner, two of which he won as the best director for Gravity (2013) and Roma (2018).
Following his footsteps, is a two-time Oscar winner director Guillermo del Toro. Lupita Nyong’o, Academy Award winner for best supporting role in Twelve Years A Slave in 2013, singers Thalia and Luis Miguel are some of the most notable Mexican names in the American Entertainment Industry.
An array of Mexico-born Americans have earned their fame through illustrious accomplishments in the US.
The World Of Sports
Juan Manuel Marquez dominated the American boxing circuit for more than a decade as he became the third Mexican to win the world championship in four categories. Canelo Alvarez is still ruling the roost in American boxing as the four-division world champion boxer is still the best active boxer there. Jose Alberto Rodriguez, also is known as Alberto Del Rio, made his name in the mixed martial arts and he was one of the leading WWE wrestlers. Fernando Venezuela played 17 seasons in the Major Baseball League from 1980 to 1997 and earned his name through his exploits at the Los Angeles Dodgers. Golfer Lorena Ochoa was world No.1 woman golfer who achieved most of her success playing in the top US professional tour.
The Field Of Literature
Mexican Nobel laureate Guillermo Arriaga wrote his best work El Laberinto de la Soledad (The Labyrinth of Solitude) when he was posted in New York as a diplomat. This essay established him as one of the leading writers of his generation. Arriaga mesmerized American audience with his powerful screenplay of movie Babel, for which he was also nominated for the Academy Awards. Rosaria Castellanos was one of the most important Mexican writers in the last century. She held several professorship trips to the US where her work Sobre Cultura Femenina (‘On Feminine Culture’) also became famous. Similarly, Don Miguel Ruiz, writer of the famous book The Four Agreements, is popular in the US as 10 million of book’s copies have been sold in the country.
The combined GDP of American-Mexicans is $2.13 Trillion.
Shaping The History Of American Arts
Frida Kahlo was a leading Mexican painter in the 20th century. She made her famous paintings — Frieda and Diego Rivera (1931), The Portrait of Luther Burbank (1931) and My Birth (1932) – while she was in America. Diego Rivera completed his 27-mural series known as Detroit Industry Murals while in the US where his paintings made way to the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1931. Leonora Carrington, David Alfaro Siqueiros and Gabriel Orozco were other leading artists who earned name through their paintings in the United States.
Watch: Americans Need Mexico, Here’s Why
Scientific Discoveries And Advancement
Mario J Molina won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for a role in discovery of Antarctic Ozone hole while working in the University of California. Jacob Bekenstein made fundamental contributions to the foundation of black hole thermodynamics while he was taking teaching assignments at different US universities.
Watch: Mario Molina’s contribution to the US
The Only Thing Why Trump Likes Mexico
Because he is able to claim that Mexico will be paying for the wall. One of Trump’s major attraction to Right-Wing voters is his anti-immigrant stand. However, the President’s simplistic approach to the US-Mexico relations conveniently ignores the nuances of the complicated but essential relationship. American-Mexicans or the larger group of US Latinos have firmly cemented their plans as a powerful voting block in US Politics. For Trump, his anti-Mexico stand could easily comeback to haunt him in the US Presidential Election 2020.
