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CIUDAD ACUNA, Mexico (AP) -- The mayor of a Mexican city on the Texas border led about 400 people on a 55-mile march Tuesday to protest U.S. plans for new border fence.

Evaristo Perez, mayor of Ciudad Acuna, said the march along the Mexican side of the border to the city of Piedras Negras - across from Eagle Pass, Texas - aims to unite border communities against the U.S. plan to build 700 miles of fencing on the border.

"We want to raise consciousness, to awaken the border giant that lives from Tamaulipas all the way to Baja California," Perez said of the march, which began Tuesday. The marchers were expected to arrive in Piedras Negras on Thursday or Friday.

Last month, President Bush signed a bill to build the fencing and add more vehicle barriers, lighting and infrared cameras.


President Vicente Fox has called the plan "an embarrassment for the United States."

Marchers also hope to capture the attention of Hispanics voting in Tuesday's U.S. midterm elections, Perez said.

"They have to think if they want to vote for those (politicians) who push for bills that divide and discriminate, or those who support unity," Perez said