Sidney Weintraub
, a very distinguished scholar specializing in Latin America, works with a prestigious think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. He released this message today (since removed from the CSIS site), which I quote in full:
Reliability of Mexican Authors
Sidney Weintraub
I made a commitment recently to an international institute to deliver a report on cooperative Mexico-U.S. antinarcotics efforts. I had what I thought were firm commitments from six U.S. and six Mexican authors. All six U.S. authors delivered their papers on schedule, whereas none of the six Mexican authors did. The honoraria were the same for all authors. I was told that the Mexican delinquency is best explained by an unwillingness of Mexicans to say "no" even if they are overcommitted. The only way to meet my deadline with the sponsor of the paper was to prepare it without contributions from the Mexican authors.