http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/miami/15723.html

Public opinion mixed on dispute

BY JONATHAN CLARK/The Herald Mexico
El Universal
November 16, 2005

A day after Mexico and Venezuela recalled their ambassadors amidst a war of words between presidents Vicente Fox and Hugo Chávez, public opinion on the streets of Mexico City was more ambivalent than passionate; a reflection, said analysts, of the two figures involved.
Luis Ramos, an 18-year-old university student, was one of many to voice displeasure with the harshness of Chávez's comments to Fox. Yet, at the same time, he worried that the Venezuelan president was articulating a commonly held perception in the region.

"Chávez really should be more diplomatic when he speaks, but he has a point when he says (Fox is too U.S.-friendly)," he said. "I think that a lot of South Americans probably do see Mexico as the 'puppy dog' of the United States, and that is something that concerns me."

Ramos' classmate, Hugo Everado, 23, said that he voted for Fox in 2000, in part because he liked the candidate's shoot-fromthe-hip speaking style on the campaign trail. But he said that Fox's failure to reign in his outspokenness as president had created too many unnecessary tensions.

"It has always seemed to me that my president speaks first, and then tries to rationalize what he said afterward," he said. "Maybe you can do that on a domestic level, but when it comes to international relations, you have to be more careful."

Others expressed resentment over the way the conflict had escalated.

"What I don't like about this situation is that (Fox and Chávez) are taking a personal disagreement and making it into a dispute between Mexico and Venezuela," said small business owner Guadalupe Morales, 64. "Chávez didn't insult Mexico or Mexicans, he insulted Fox, and we don't want to be dragged into it."

But telephone agent Salvador Ruvalcaba, 30, disagreed.

"If someone messes with our president, he's messing with our country," he said.



‘A PASSING THING’

Fox's presidency is viewed as a disappointment by many Mexicans, who recall unmet campaign promises to boost growth and employment. And so an ambivalence to rally behind the president was not unexpected. But a lack of support in the dispute for Chávez, a leader who portrays himself as a Bólivar-esque champion of the region's underprivileged, is also telling, said analysts.

"It has to do with who's doing the attacking," said political commentator Ana MarÃÂ*a Salazar.

"If this was Fox arguing with (Cuban leader Fidel) Castro, there would an important group on the left in Mexico defending Castro," she said. "But in this case it's Chávez, who is not necessarily perceived in the way that I think he thought he would be. He just doesn't have the same level of esteem as Castro."

Rodolfo Hernández, director of U.S.-Mexico Studies at the University of Texas at Dallas, thought that the personalities involved would prevent Mexicans from rushing to Fox's side.

"I don't think the general public will take a significant position one way or another," he said. "This is certainly not the same if we were discussing Fox taking a position against George W. Bush."

Hernández predicted that the Fox-Chávez row would lead to some discussion within intellectual circles as to how Mexico had gone from champion of leftist movements in Latin America to champion of free trade.

But on the streets of the capital, many of those questioned Tuesday seemed either unaware or only peripherally interested in the issue behind the dispute. Most just wanted and expected the disagreement to blow over.

"This is probably going to be a passing thing," said Hugo Everardo. "Fox always gets into messes like this, and then they go away."