Thread: Mexico Officials hope for close ties with U.S.

Officials hope for close ties

By RICHARD S. DUNHAM and GARY MARTIN
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Published: Sunday, April 12, 2009 2:04 AM CDT

WASHINGTON - For Mexican officials, President Obama's visit to Mexico this week offers the hope of a new beginning after the missed opportunity of George W. Bush's presidency.

Bush was a former border-state governor with strong support among Mexican-Americans in Texas.

But the early promise of closer bilateral ties fell by the wayside after the Sept. 11 attacks when the U.S. government revved up its focus on global terrorism.

That promise was further squelched by the Bush administration's profound disappointment with Mexico for refusing to back the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.

"Relations weren't that bad under the Bush administration, but there was a perception of U.S. disengagement from Mexico," said Andrew Selee, director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars here in Washington.

That's a perception Obama is striving to change.

The new administration has "made it clear that our relationship with Mexico is of the highest priority," said former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Jeffrey Davidow, now a special adviser to Obama.

The White House has promised cooperation with Mexico on a wide range of issues, including economic development, clean energy and environmental protection.

But the sense of promise is tempered by harsh political realities in Washington and Mexico City.

As the new U.S. president prepares to sit down with his Mexican counterpart, Felipe Calderón, both leaders are under growing pressure to reign in drug trafficking, gun smuggling and escalating border violence that threatens to spill over from Mexico into Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.

They are also facing demands from their respective political bases to deal with the explosive political issue of Mexican migration to the U.S., which has inflamed passions in both nations.

Obama and Calderón also are seeking to defuse a nascent trade war triggered with the U.S. Congress halted a Bush administration pilot project that allowed Mexican trucks greater access to American roads.

The congressional action, strongly backed by organized labor in the U.S., provoked a rapid retaliatory response from Mexico, which slapped $2.4 billion in punitive tariffs on American agricultural products.

The Mexicans targeted California farmers, a move that leaves House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., squeezed between her union allies and her home-state constituents.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged during her March 26 visit to Monterrey that she would "work this out," but the Teamsters Union is in no mood to compromise.

"We cannot subject ourselves to that kind of blackmail," said Chuck Mack, international vice president of the Teamsters.

To complicate matters, Calderón faces electoral pressures at home.

His center-right ruling party is trailing badly in polls leading up to July midterm elections, and standing up to Washington usually makes for good politics in Mexico.

"Sounding nationalistic can mean a few points in the vote," said Mexican political analyst Jorge Chabat.

That may help to explain the trucking impasse, as well as tough Mexican rhetoric tying cartel violence to the insatiable U.S. demand for narcotics, smuggled American assault weapons and millions of narco-dollars heading south to drug lords.

Obama has responded by taking "shared responsibility" for the bloody uprising in northern Mexico.

He compares Calderón to mob-battling American crimefighter Eliot Ness and says the U.S. must help to rein in violence that has "gotten out of hand."

But Obama faces political cross-pressures of his own.

While the White House seeks to send $1.4 billion to Mexico as part of the Bush-negotiated anti-drug initiative, a bipartisan bloc of lawmakers wants him to spend more to protect the U.S. from cartel violence, illegal immigrants and potential terrorists.

"The president of the United States needs to put the United States first - period," said Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas.

"If we are serious about securing the border, then we would put the National Guard down there to secure the actual border."

Immigration also could be a prickly political issue for Obama. Mexican leaders have called for more humane treatment of its citizens in the United States, and the new administration has called for an end to worksite raids - focusing instead on employers who hire illegal labor.

An announcement on immigration is expected during the president's visit, mainly because "Obama put it on the table," said Armand Peschard-Sverdrup, an expert on Mexico at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

But Republican lawmakers question whether a renewed push for comprehensive immigration reform should supplant all efforts to curb drug trafficking and violence.

"The problem this young administration has had is trying to figure out priorities," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

"When everything is a priority, nothing is a priority."

http://www.lmtonline.com/articles/2009/ ... 922630.txt

F--K that wessel he needs to mine his own Country. We dont need any more jack--- here telling us what to do.
They are "trying" to take over.