Posted on 03/22/2002 8:35:22 PM PST by mykdsmom
MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) -- Standing side by side with Mexican President Vicente Fox, President Bush sought Friday to strengthen ties with a neighbor that has felt neglected in the United States' post-Sept. 11 focus on terrorism.
Bush saluted Mexico's battle against drug kingpins and said he is determined to work out an immigration agreement that gives special treatment to Mexicans in the United States.
"Mexico is different from other countries, not only because of our proximity, but because of our special relationship," Bush said at a joint news conference closing his talks with Fox at Monterrey's Governmental Palace.
The Mexican government is seeking amnesty for some 3 million Mexicans living and working in the United States illegally. The Bush administration is aiming to craft a more limited "guest worker"-type program and a system making it easier for undocumented immigrants from Mexico to apply for legal status.
Bush said he seeks a policy that recognizes "the unique nature of the Mexican in our country ... and that we do have a special relationship between our countries, not only defined by NAFTA, but defined by cultural and historic ties."
Fox, in a low-key statement, did not mention the ongoing staff-level talks on migration reforms. Instead, the Mexican president spoke of joining forces with Bush to try to attract business investment into the poorest communities of Mexico that have the highest migratory rates.
"The specific purpose is to generate opportunities for advancement, opportunities for income," for Mexicans at home, Fox said.
Over dinner at Monterrey's museum of modern art, Fox was more warmly effusive and toasted the United States' resilience after the Sept. 11 attacks.
"The attacks tore down the twin towers, but they were not able to make a dent in the spirit of the United States," Fox said.
On immigration issues, Fox said that he and Bush "have found an honest language which is also affectionate and respectful."
The two presidents spoke at the news conference after a U.N. conference on global poverty.
In response to a question, Bush defended his refusal to release a scheduled $34 million U.S. contribution to the U.N. Population Fund, which conducts family planning, HIV prevention and maternal health programs internationally. Conservative opponents of the fund contend that its programs in China are involved in forced abortions -- a contention its supporters hotly dispute.
"I said we're not going to use taxpayers' money to fund abortion and I"m going to make sure we're not using taxpayers' money to fund abortion," Bush said.
Told of Bush's comment, the organization's information officer, Abubakar Dungus, said the fund, "by policy, is prohibited from promoting or supporting abortion."
This was a return presidential visit for Bush who, after his inauguration last year, made Mexico his first international visit and declared the Western Hemisphere his top foreign-policy priority.
But the unusually close ties between the Bush and Fox administrations seemed to fade after the Sept. 11 attacks. Mexico was somewhat hesitant at first to fully back Washington's war on terrorism, partly because of its policy of non-intervention. Mexico's hopes for changes in U.S. immigration laws to allow more Mexicans to legally work and live in the United States were put on hold as the White House and Congress turned their focus to counterterrorism and border security.
On other topics that Bush addressed in the palace's open-air patio of pink stone:
--He continued to hold out the hope that Vice President Dick Cheney would meet with Yasser Arafat "if and when" the Palestinian leader cracks down on terrorist attacks against Israel.
Bush said a meeting "could happen," but said it was up to Arafat to comply with conditions outlined by Secretary of State Colin Powell and Mideast envoy Anthony Zinni.
The escalation of violence in the Middle East has complicated Bush's efforts to build a coalition against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, whom Bush views as a threat to the United States.
--Bush declined to say how he will deal with Saddam but said any U.S. action would be deliberate and well-planned. "We'll deal with Saddam Hussein and he knows that," Bush said.
--Bush denounced Cuban President Fidel Castro and dismissed suggestions that the communist leader was pressured by the United States to leave the international meeting before his arrival.
The president said there was "no pressure on anybody. Fidel Castro can do what he wants to do. What I'm worried about is how he treats his people," he said.
Bush, who continues on to Peru on Saturday, said the United States has not decided whether it will resume drug surveillance flights over Peru, suspended since a plane carrying American missionaries' plane was mistakenly shot down last year after a CIA-hired crew identified it as a possible drug flight.
"We're analyzing not only what took place in the past, but the most effective way help Peru fight narcotics," he said.
They are now happily charging us the OPEC price & curtailing production! With friends like that, who needs enemies?
He & his family have behaved in such a manner as to be almost above reproach ( from Midland to Austin & beyond ) & his foolish romance with Citizen Fox can only be due to the current band of scummy thieves in Monterrey-UN, IMF, World Bank, just what part of NWO don't folks understand?
They must awaken, & quickly!
I have nearly been shown the back door on FR before, for offending the members of the Cult of the First New Church of The Marlboro Man, of Crawford-and today could be that big day, for real.
I say he has seriously lost his political compass & may not realize what he is up to, what he has done to us & himself. This guy has gone nuts, with the CFR, the criminal aliens. The Fatherland Defense, I mean Homeland Security, could also be very scary.
I hear you. I just want to know where Vincente Fox stands on fighting terrorism. How about sending a battalion of Mexicos's best to do battle with the radical Islamics. When will Mexico step onto the world stage and do something that doesn't directly result in the enrichment of the corrupt few who control things?
I suppose I should be thankful that Mexico is not a Muslim country.
Also have good reason to understand we will always save them from themselves.
One must wonder what dark dealings they have with the Chi-coms-the head Chi-com was in mexico approx 6 months ago. Ugly. Very ugly.
True, it won't fly yet but if there are more terrorist attacks in the U.S. and if Bush's derelict open borders and lax immigration enforcement policies are directly implicated as a prime factor the conditions are there to remove him from office. IMO, Bush has knowingly put the American people at great risk in his zealous pursuit of a borderless America.
I agree with you and the vast majority of the American people would probably agree with you.
I am so disgusted right now I don't know what to say or do. I am sorry I ever supported him and voted for him. And to think - it's a long time to 2004.
Not because of immigration, but because he said there was no need to interfere with Hitler.
You're saying that no one is looking?
I know exactly how you feel.
And furthermore, how about Bush encouraging those already here to take more initiative to assimilate?
Bush... between encouraging an illegal immigration crisis and the CFR my assessment of him has plummeted like a Dot Com stock.
Your suspicions are correct. The GOP has again thrown it all away by ignoring the base on this and a host of other issues.
It is strange that their lackeys and bootlickers here blame the base for the fact that the base has been abandoned. It becomes a self-fulfilling fantasy.. the base rejects the GOP more and more as the GOP abandons them and then the lackeys blame the base for walking away! It would be comical if it wasn't so pathetic.
The person I answered said those on this forum. Anyone who thinks it's OK to do nothing while 6 million members of an ethnic group are massacred in an organized way raises questions about what he thinks about that particular ethnic group. Would Buchanan have supported doing nothing if 6 million Irish were massacred in camps?
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