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Mexico still has not forgotten these things. It still does not like or wholly trust the U.S. But Mexican feeling toward the U.S. is very like that of the U.S. toward Britain. Although a large part of the U.S. neither likes nor wholly trusts Britain, the U.S. likes a great deal that Britain stands for at the present time, recognizes that mutual interests draw the two nations together, that closer and better relations between the two countries would be a good thing.
It was very lucky for the U.S. that a man who had a similar feeling about the U.S. was made Minister of Foreign Affairs when General Manuel Avila Camacho became President of Mexico 16 months ago. Today President Avila Camacho is knitting Mexico together. His strong and stable Government is attracted to the U.S.
Part of the reason for its bent is Ezequiel Padilla's devotion to the cause of democracy. Mexico as a whole yearns toward democracy, but in Padilla that yearning is articulate. That is why he believes that Mexico must bend all its efforts to see that the U.S. does not lose.
In Washington Padilla named six forms of aid which Mexico is prepared to offer:
>Ousting Axis diplomats and potential fifth columnists.
>Controlling the movements of Axis nationals.
>Controlling Axis economic and financial interests.
>Keeping strategic materials out of Axis hands.
>Exchange of information about anything that affects the security of the continent.
>Opening its ports to the warships of all the American republics (of which four-fifths belong to the U.S.).
Today Ezequiel Padilla is quite sure that, in backing the U.S., Latin America is not backing the wrong horse. His reason is simple. The totalitarian powers go forth to conquer—by force or by economic penetration and threats of force. By the nature of their method, every new triumph makes them new enemies. The strength of the democracies is that they make friends. And in the long run that cumulative strength will triumph over their enemies' cumulative weakness. Said Padilla this week in Washington:
"The United States of America has only to fear the oceans. In the lands to the north and south, this great country has only friends."