Mexican Foreign Minister Criticizes U.S. Candidates
Espinosa Accuses Presidential Hopefuls of Worsening Life for Migrants
By Manuel Roig-Franzia
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, January 7, 2008; 1:21 PM

MEXICO CITY, Jan. 7 -- Mexico's foreign minister accused U.S. presidential candidates Monday of worsening an already "adverse climate" for Mexican migrants and vowed to redouble efforts to protect the rights of her country's citizens now living and working in the United States.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of a conference for Mexican diplomats here, Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa Cantellano said "being effective in the defense and support of the migrants implies treating them the same way whether they are in Mexico or outside of the country." She did not specify what steps would be taken.

"Given the adverse climate that prevails for the Mexican community in the United States, aggravated by the electoral debate in that country, we also have to give particular attention to the problems confronted by our migrants," Espinosa Cantellano told an audience of hundreds of Mexican diplomats.

Espinosa Cantellano's remarks are the latest in a series of high-profile jabs taken at U.S. presidential candidates and lawmakers by top Mexican officials. In November, Mexican President Felipe Calderón called migrants "hostages" of the presidential campaign and urged candidates not to use them as talking points. Calderón also criticized the U.S. Senate in June, calling its rejection of an immigration reform measure "a grave error."

Calderón has said that his administration will finance a media campaign to highlight immigrant success stories as a way of improving the public image of Mexican migrants in the United States. Espinosa Cantellano seemed to reinforce that point Monday, saying that "part of our function is to emphasize and underline the great economic and social contributions of our fellow citizens to the communities in which they live and work."

In the past, it has been unusual for Mexican presidents and cabinet members to criticize U.S. political candidates. But Calderón and his top lieutenants have been increasingly willing to complain about U.S. politics, even as they push the U.S. Congress to approve President Bush's proposed aid package to help Mexico fight drug cartels, one of the largest bilateral proposals in history.

Calderón and Espinosa Cantellano were personally involved in negotiations for the $500 million aid package, known as the Merida Initiative. But the measure has stalled in the U.S. Congress, and Mexican officials privately have begun expressing concerns that it will fail.
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