TIL that on 10 November 1975, the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 3379, which "determine[d] that Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination".
Mexico voted in favour of the resolution, which outraged the Jewish community in the United States. In protest, isolated members of specific Jewish organizations called for a boycott of touristic travel to Mexico. This quickly grew into a nationwide movement among American Jewish organizations who cancelled charter flights to the country in droves.
Damage control
Almost immediately the Mexican government started performing damage control.
Miguel Alemán, president of the National Tourism Council, invited Mexican Jewish leaders to his home and organized meetings with American Jewish leaders to discuss the issue. These efforts culminated in the invitation of American Jewish leaders to Mexico City by Mexican diplomat Emilio Óscar Rabasa to discuss the issue with Mexican president Luis Echeverría.
Though initially hesitant, they decided to go.
The Mexican Jewish community became very concerned with how everything was developing, both with the Mexican government's position on zionism and with the American Jewish boycott. However, to American Jewish leaders, there was just too much popular momentum to back out now. The ball was in Echeverría's court.
Emilio Óscar Rabasa's visit to Israel
On 4 December 1975, Emilio Óscar Rabasa visited the World Conference of Jewish Solidarity in Israel where Rabasa visited Israel and managed to normalize relations between Mexico and Israel, despite Echeverría's insistence that "El voto de México fue correcto" ("The vote of Mexico was correct").
Rabasa's defiance of Echeverría's direct orders led to his resignation (which, by the way, Rabasa already signed before Echeverría confronted him). By January 1976, there had been a marked change in the Mexican government's attitude toward zionism. This change was enough to encourage American Jewish organizations to end the boycott on touristic travel to Mexico by 4 February.
The boycott ends
The decision to end the boycott was applauded in the American, Mexican, and Israeli press. It should be noted that the boycott was not supported by the Mexican Jewish community. In fact they were very much against it, which left a lasting impact on Mexican Jewish and American Jewish relations.
Citation
I paraphrased much of this from Ariela Katz Gugenheim's great historical analysis "The Tourist Boycott of Mexico. Political and diplomatic controversies in the wake of Mexico's vote for UN Resolution 3379."
El boicot turístico a México. Controversias político-diplomáticas a raíz del voto mexicana en la resolución 3379 de la ONU. Hist. mex. online. 2016, vol.66, n.2, pp.555-644. ISSN 2448-6531.