JOHN RICE
Friendship With U.S. Worries Some Mexicans
Wed Jan 14 17:29:31 2004
64.140.158.138

Posted on Wed, Jan. 14, 2004
Friendship With U.S. Worries Some Mexicans
JOHN RICE
Associated Press
http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/news/breaking_news/7710065.htm

MEXICO CITY - President Vicente Fox's renewed friendship with President Bush has revived old worries in a country closely tied to the United States but deeply suspicious of its motives.

Opponents accuse Fox of pandering to U.S. policies and weakening Mexico's own sovereignty to please Bush at the just-concluded Summit of the Americas in Monterrey. So sensitive is the topic that Fox denied he was a Bush "lackey" - giving Mexican newspapers their main headline on Wednesday, a day after the summit ended.

Fox entered office in December 2000 with Bush a close friend who vowed to help solve the dilemma of illegal Mexican workers in the United States. The money they send home to their families - along with U.S. trade and investment - is crucial to Mexico's economy.

The Sept. 11 terror attacks pulled U.S. attention elsewhere. Then Mexico's refusal to endorse the U.S. invasion of Iraq angered the Bush administration.

Now, Fox's government seems to be making renewed overtures to Washington, even if it irritates some Mexicans.

News media here reported Mexicans were angered by the tight Christmas-season security requested by Washington that led to big lines at Mexican airports - and by demands that Mexicans visiting the United States be fingerprinted while Canadians and other nationalities are not. Some newspapers claimed, falsely, that FBI agents were conducting searches.

Even the president of Mexico's senate had to remove his shoes and be searched before boarding a U.S.-bound plane.

Fox's embrace of Bush's proposal to give undocumented migrant workers temporary legal status was criticized by many politicians and analysts, who complained it fell short of Mexico's goals or the needs of its citizens north of the border.

There was even sharper alarm when Bush, standing beside Fox at a news conference, said the Mexican president had agreed to join him in keeping a close eye on a possible recall election of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

The largest party in Congress, the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, on Tuesday welcomed the newly restored good feelings between the two governments. But it added a few jabs.

The statement on Chavez "seems like an intervention in the internal life of the Republic of Venezuela, violating a principle of Mexican foreign policy," it said.

It also urged Fox to be wary of Bush's immigration plan and noted that Bush was seeking re-election. Mexico should avoid "excessive support for any of the proposals" by presidential candidates, it said.

Fox depends on the opposition to pass any legislation in a Congress where his party is a minority. The other main opposition force, the left-leaning Democratic Revolution Party, accused Fox of "accelerating submission" to Bush and making secret deals.

"It turns out that every week we learn of clandestine agreements that imply serious violations of our laws and a dangerous turn in the traditional neutrality of our country," party officials said in a statement.

They were referring in part to government admissions that FBI officials had been allowed in Mexican airports under a little-noticed bilateral agreement. Critics claimed they were directing security operations, while the government said they were sharing information.

Fox has insisted the airport inspections were carried out for Mexican security and said Mexico is merely supporting Venezuela's democracy, not meddling in it. He said Bush's immigration policy is the best Mexico can hope for right now.

And he insisted Tuesday that the impression he is kowtowing to Bush was wrong.

"There's no lack of people who immediately see things in an erroneous way that is convenient for them," Fox said. "They say that Fox is subordinate to Bush, that now he is a lackey of Bush, that now he has surrendered to Bush.

"The reality is that we have serious, professional work."
http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/news/breaking_news/7710065.htm