Thread: Bush's Ambassador to Mexico Is Sometimes Undiplomatic

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/20/inter ... oref=login

Bush's Ambassador to Mexico Is Sometimes Undiplomatic


By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.
Published: August 20, 2005

MEXICO CITY, Aug. 19 - A year ago, Ambassador Antonio O. Garza Jr. was best known here as an affable patron of the arts and a good guest on the upper-crust cocktail party circuit. He was an old friend and political ally of President Bush, the favorite son of a Texas border town, a man with a quick smile who was hard to dislike.

But in the last six months Mr. Garza has become the voice of a tougher United States policy toward Mexico, sharply criticizing its government for failing to control drug violence on the border and temporarily shutting the consulate in Nuevo Laredo to make his point.

His new, muscular role was evident on Wednesday when the Mexican Foreign Ministry leveled a broadside at him for a speech in which he said violence between drug cartels on the border threatened to undermine investment, tourism and the quality of life in both countries.

"Some have said that I ordered the shutdown to punish the Mexican government for its failure to control violence in the region," Mr. Garza said Tuesday as he accepted the University of Denver's Distinguished Diplomat Award. "And in a sense that's true, and I've been clear, my primary responsibility as ambassador is the safety of United States citizens, and I won't hesitate to take action when they are at risk."

Gerónimo Gutiérrez, Mexico's assistant foreign affairs secretary for North America, shot back, saying Mr. Garza's statements were worrisome and unwelcome. "His selection of words was frankly unfortunate and do not fit with the role of an ambassador," Mr. Gutiérrez said.

Later, a spokesman for President Vicente Fox said the administration stood behind the statement. Sean McCormick, the State Department spokesman, said Mr. Garza regretted his choice of words and "would probably tell you that he would use some different phrasing."

The dispute was the latest in a series of diplomatic uproars suggesting that the governments of Mr. Bush and Mr. Fox, after what seemed a promising start, do not get along very well.

Mr. Fox was the first foreign leader Mr. Bush called on after being elected president. Since then, the countries have divided sharply over the Iraq war, and plans for immigration reform have stalled. More recently, officials have had harsh words for one another about a wall being built to keep migrants out of San Diego and about off-the-cuff remarks by Mr. Fox about the unwillingness of blacks to take menial jobs.

Then there have been clashes about a Mexican postage stamp depicting a stereotypical black cartoon character, vigilante groups patrolling the United States side of the border and the decisions of New Mexico and Arizona in recent weeks to declare their borders disaster areas.

For his part, Mr. Garza has stayed out of many of these debates, but he has been unrelenting in his criticism of the Fox government for failing to control drug violence, especially in Nuevo Laredo. He has issued two warnings to American tourists to avoid the region.

Mr. Garza declined a request to be interviewed. A State Department official familiar with Mr. Garza's thinking said the ambassador had not changed his style but had responded to the wave of crime on the border, where he was born and reared, in Brownsville, Tex.

"He's genuinely concerned about the growth of narco-traffickers and kingpins, not just along the border, but other places in Mexico, and the perception that not enough is being done about it," said the official, who insisted on anonymity for diplomatic reasons.

The official added: "Ambassador Garza has often said the Mexicans shouldn't use this unfortunate choice of words as an opportunity to take their eye off the ball. They don't have a public relations problem, they have a public security challenge."

Mr. Garza's more outspoken demeanor has coincided with his high-profile marriage to MarÃÂ*a Asunción Aramburuzabala, the heiress to the Corona beer empire and part-owner of one of Mexico's television networks. Their whirlwind romance last year and their marriage four months ago provided grist for society gossip columnists for months.

The union was seen here as a melding American political might and Mexican money, a cross-border alliance not to be trifled with. But in an interview last spring, Mr. Garza made it plain that he did not intend to let his marriage influence his job.

For Mexican officials it is Mr. Garza's relationship with Mr. Bush that may be more important. Since he is a political appointee whose friendship with the president goes back to Texas political races in the 1980's, his words are quite nearly given the weight of Mr. Bush's own.

Jorge Castañeda, a former foreign minister who is running for president, said Mr. Garza's closeness to Mr. Bush was one reason his words caused such a stir.

"His rhetoric, I think, has been rather unfortunate," Mr. Castañeda said, "and perhaps it would be useful for the State Department and Ambassador Garza to concentrate on the substance rather than grandstanding in public. In general there is nothing easier in Mexico than U.S. ambassador bashing. It's a national past time, and he's inviting it, really, a great deal."

why does everybody depict these "vigilante groups" patroling the border as more dangerous than the drug dealers, smugglers, mercenaries and "illegal aliens" invading a foreign nation? these "vigilante groups" are the only ones exercising their lawful rights as Citizens of this country

But in the last six months Mr. Garza has become the voice of a tougher United States policy toward Mexico, sharply criticizing its government for failing to control drug violence on the border and temporarily shutting the consulate in Nuevo Laredo to make his point.

It is about time.