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Mexico City will decide today whether to re-open its schools, restaurants, and private businesses – they have all been closed since last week in response to the swine flu alert. The alert, upped to a level four, is characterized by human-to-human transmission and containment of the virus is no longer possible. Critics contend that the World Health Organization has been slow to respond and is attributing their sluggishness to the “global political clout” of the meat industry. Perote, in the state of Veracruz, home to a huge Smithfield hog farm, was the first to report the flu. As early as March, with an overwhelming 60% of the population suffering from bronchitis, pneumonia and the flu, the local health officials declared an alert. But complaints were ignored. Mexico’s Secretary of Health Jose Angel Cordova noted that one child in Perote had died of swine flu, but tossed out the theory that neighboring hog farms were responsible. Cordova also stated on Sunday that a total of 590 cases of the flu are now confirmed, which include 22 deaths. Here in the US, there has been only one flu-related death confirmed so far. According to writer and analyst Mike Davis, “The paradox of this swine flu panic is that, while totally unexpected, it was accurately predicted.”

GUEST: Laura Carlsen, director of the Americas Policy Program in Mexico City, where she has been an analyst and writer for two decades. She is also a Foreign Policy In Focus columnist.