From Deseret News archives:
U.S. military welcomes aid from Mexican marines
Differences between 2 set aside for Katrina efforts
Hurricane Katrina is making for all kinds of history, and now her legacy of destruction has been so overwhelming that the U.S. armed forces are relying on assistance from its frequently estranged neighbor of Mexico, more recently a source of conflict over matters such as illegal immigration rather than a supplier of aid.
That tension was evident just days before the Mexican military specialists in natural disasters cleaned up the debris-filled schools and campuses Friday in nearby D'Iberville, Miss., across the bay from Biloxi.
U.S. officials recently agreed to a Mexican request not to prosecute Mexican illegal immigrants who seek U.S. help from the hurricane damage.
The ongoing animus was hardly present Friday after the Mexican forces expressed accomplishment and pride at having worked a full steamy day on the cleanup.
Yes, several marines admitted, the back of their minds held the thought of the long-standing antagonism between the U.S. and Mexican militaries, extending to the Mexican War of 1848, when the land that is now home to several Southwestern states was lost by the Mexican republic.
It was the honor of helping the Americans that was the dominant emotion in their humanitarian mission, they said. The Mexican military assistance to the United States — the army convoys to Texas and now naval units to Mississippi — is unprecedented, Mexican officials say.
More than 300 Mexican marines and sailors were aboard their warship Papaloapan, anchored 8 miles off Biloxi, near the USS Bataan and a Dutch Navy frigate, HMNLS Van Amstel.
With 190 sailors aboard, the Van Amstel sent 60 crewmembers ashore to a makeshift beach post called Camp Restore to join the Mexicans in the cleanup, a Dutch navy spokesman said.
"For us, it's very significant because some of these parts used to be part of our country. There's been a lot of hardship," said marine Elias Castellanos Jackson, 21, of Tuxpam in the Mexican state of Veracruz. "But when we talked with the American Marines, there's been a lot of camaraderie. And some of them even spoke a little Spanish, and it gave me a chance to practice my English.
"There were no hard feelings. It was a good experience overall," Castellanos said, standing next to a stand of rakes, pickaxes, hatchets and gloves under a live oak tree on the battered coast.
"It was with a lot of pride that we came here," added 3rd Sgt. Jose Arnold Castellanos, 31, a 13-year marine from Tampico, Mexico.
