The Labyrinth of Swine Flu

Of all the countries to be hit by a swine flu epidemic, Mexico doesn’t seem like the fairest choice: the country is already reeling from the increasingly aggressive narcotraficante culture that threatens to dismantle local governments all across the northern border. In fact, the Calderón government might be viewed as a little overextended at the moment.

To the contrary, however, he’s taken decisive action. He’s shut down schools. He’s declared sweeping new powers that would allow the executive branch to unilaterally quarantine individuals. He’s even made public announcements asking Mexicans to stop kissing and shaking hands when they meet.

This last suggestion is particularly interesting – certainly not unheard of on a global scale, but a substantial cultural change for a nation in which kissing is often an instinctual gesture.

Clearly, the practical way to deal with an infectious disease outbreak is, in fact, to contain it, to isolate those who are infected. Few people would say now that the Calderón government has acted irresponsibly. Nevertheless, this sudden, strong response reads very much like a return to the semiauthoritarian tactics of the PRI, Mexico’s ruling party from 1929 to 2000. The parallel seems especially strong in the light of recent fears among PANistas that the drug crisis could give the PRI an electoral boost among Mexicans who miss what was perceived as the party’s strong leadership.

The recommendation against kissing plays a significant role in this parallel as well – though it is important to remember that, at this stage, it is simply a pragmatic and reasonable gesture. A major theme of Octavio Paz’s seminal The Labyrinth of Solitude maintains that a fundamental aspect of the Mexican culture is loneliness and isolation, derived from either a lack of definite national identity, or an artificial identity imposed by a powerful minority. At least in theory, the fall of the PRI was meant to mark an end to this chapter of the Mexican identity. Banning intimacy, on the other hand, points back to the oft-reported alienation of the PRI days.

There’s little doubt that the twin crises of the drug trade and the flu will lead to stricter governance in Mexico, which may in fact be necessary to prevent anarchy. Whether this will intensify, however, is something to watch for. Before forgetting the danger of potentially PRIista tactics, we  should look at the analysis of another great observer of Latin American isolation – Gabriel García Márquez, author of One Hundred Years of Solitude. In his novel, the residents of Macondo also suffer an epidemic, not of swine flu, but of insomnia – and, eventually, amnesia.