"What, exactly, "beats down" these so called oppressed groups you mention? Does the government truly do so..."

First off, Mexico is paying interest on a gigantic loan from the IMF. I can't find the most up to date number, but off the top of my head, the debt is a couple hundred BILLION dollars in debt. (Someone please correct this.)

This means no President of Mexico can afford to pay for ANY social service programs for poor people in Mexico.

Ask yourself where the interest on that debt is going, and how "legal" Americans are able to sustain their enormously wasteful lifestyle, including sitting on their computers getting fat.

If you don't ask yourself where all the wealth came from, then you really just want to pretend that all your benefits came from paying "taxes."

Second of all, Mexico is stuck with a handful of large landowners who wish they were the Spanish conquistators, and who refuse to give up any land to the peasants.

Third of all, NAFTA has wiped out the middle class of Mexico, as proven by all kinds of economists, left and right, and a President who thinks that selling the National oil company of Pemex, and making a deal for another "braceros" program in the US, is the way to solve his economic problems.

I could go on, but I have to go to work - unlike others who seem to be parked on this thread.