En tu idioma/In your on language

Eduardo del Buey
Foto: Ap
La Jornada Maya

Miércoles 3 de agosto, 2016

As the world becomes familiar with Donald Trump and his business practices, it is interesting that a Mexican businessman (from Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula) once beat the Donald at his own game.

In 2005, a group of Mexican business personalities thought hosting the Miss Universe Pageant in Cancun would be an excellent way to help stimulate an economy devastated by Hurricane Wilma.

The Trump organization agreed, and negotiations followed. One of the business leaders involved, Rodolfo Rosas Moya, was asked to pledge a number of properties as collateral and security for the financing of the project. Although he considered it, he never signed the documents committing him to deliver on his promise. He had noted Trump's propensity to cause conflicts that would lead to breach of contract, after which he would sue for damages.

The Trump organization threatened to abort the competition, since they insisted on expensive lighting arrangements from Europe that were available in Mexico at far lower cost. While Trump blustered, the event went on as planned.

Three years later, Trump sued Rosas Moya and took out a lien against the properties, claiming he was owed money for the event and that plots pf land had been pledged as collateral. However, in New York, an American judge decided that the suit was unjustified since Rosas Moya had not signed the properties over, and Rosas Moya was free to dispose of them as he saw fit.

Paul Antoine Matos published an excellent account of this development in his article of August 1st in [i]La Jornada Maya[/i]. Antoine Matos reported that Rosas Moya told him that, "Trump was furious that his team of three hundred lawyers had been bested by a Mexican business personality and his legal representatives".

Indeed, Antoine Matos reports that, in 2015, Trump tweeted that "because of Rodolfo Rosas Moya, who owes me much money, Mexico will never host a Miss Universe pageant again". According to the reporter, Trump went on to tweet that, "I want nothing to do with Mexico, except to build an impenetrable wall to stop them from taking money from the United States". One month later, Trump announced his presidential candidacy, saying that he would build a wall along the Mexican border, and that Mexico would pay for it.

In a speech at the Democratic convention in July, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg noted that," during his career, Trump has left a well-documented trail of bankruptcies, thousands of law suits, angry partners and shareholders who feel cheated, and disillusioned client".

Rosas Moya is blunter, quoted by Matos as saying, "Donald Trump is an imbecile, an idiot who puts the world at risk. He resembles Hitler - he is a great leader but he is crazy: his racism goes against the times".

Sour grapes on Trump’s part?

Perhaps.

Trump has proven to be thin skinned and vicious in his revenge.

Would he put the US-Mexico bilateral relationship and all of its complexities up for grabs because of a slight he has felt from one Mexican businessman who bested him at his game? This may not be his only motivation but, given his proclivity to lash out against his enemies, it may well be an important one, according to Paul Antoine Matos's article.

Mérida, Yucatán
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