Mexican Senate rejects Fox's travel plans to U.S. and Canada

Houston Chronicle ^ | April 10, 2002 | AP

[Cincinatus' Wife]

MEXICO CITY -- Angry over several U.S. policies, senators denied President Vicente Fox permission on Tuesday to travel to the United States and Canada -- the first time Congress has stopped a Mexican leader from leaving the country.

Lawmakers voted 71-41 against Fox's request to travel next week to the western United States and Canada, saying the trip didn't appear to be worth it.

"Let's not confuse things," Sen. German Sierra of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party said. "It's not an official visit. It's not a state visit. It's considered a private visit."

Others criticized Fox's cozy ties with the United States. They cited Mexico's cooperation to secure its northern border against terrorists, and Fox's "passivity" in regard to a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that immigrants working illegally in the United States do not have the same rights to restitution as Americans who are mistreated on the job.

"President Fox made the decision to construct a new relationship with the United States that many consider inconvenient and unfruitful," said Raymundo Cardenas of the Democratic Revolution Party.

The action appeared to leave Fox little option but to try to persuade senators to change their mind or cancel his visit north. Under Mexican law, the Senate must authorize any presidential trips outside of Mexico.

In a television address late Tuesday, Fox called the move "disrespectful" to Canadian and U.S. officials, but said he was open to negotiations.

"The cancellation of this trip has negative effects for the promotion of Mexico's interests and those of Mexicans living in both countries," he said.

Since taking office in December 2000, the Mexican president has traveled frequently abroad to meet with world leaders and attend international summits.

Opposition lawmakers have complained that he spends too much time traveling -- and not enough time dealing with the internal problems of the country.

Fox has argued that he is seeking greater economic opportunities for his country, and improving Mexico's image on the world scene.

He was scheduled to travel next week to Calgary and Vancouver in Canada, as well as San Francisco and Seattle in a trip designed to strengthen economic and political ties between the three North American countries.

During the visit, he planned to meet with political leaders and Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, as well as reach out to Mexicans living overseas.

Sen. Gloria Lavara, of Mexico's Ecological Green Party, said the money that was to be used for the trip should be invested in Mexico. She also criticized Fox for not having secured promises from the United States to grant more work visas to Mexican migrants.

"The Mexicans that live and work outside of the country don't need visits," she said. "They need concrete and solid actions with short-, medium- and long-term results."

The vote pitting opposition lawmakers against members of Fox's National Action Party, which does not hold a majority in Congress, signaled a growing divide between legislators and Fox's administration.

Lawmakers also said the action was due to the Fox administration's "confusing" policy regarding Cuba.

Opposition lawmakers have accused Foreign Secretary Jorge Castaneda of pressuring Cuban President Fidel Castro to leave a U.N. conference last month in Monterrey, Mexico. Castaneda has repeatedly denied the allegation.

Lawmakers ordered the foreign secretary to appear before Congress to explain his actions, but he instead met with key lawmakers at his office in the Foreign Relations Department on Tuesday.

[11B3]

Why don't their politicians do something to the "travel plans" of all their citizens who come here illegally? Seems that if they would put a clamp on that, there wouldn't be a problem between the two countries.

Screw 'em - build that southern wall on the border.

[lavaroise]

Let's not confuse things," Sen. German Sierra of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party said. "It's not an official visit. It's not a state visit. It's considered a private visit."

Apparently the communists are not letting go of encroaching over people's jurisdictions. Of course, for communists, anything that involves travel for the nation's business and relation with the outside world (read any contract) is "private" business that should be legislated by communists. Revolutionaries hate contracts and want to destroy the idea of contract and their party is just that, some terrorist wacko party.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Why don't their politicians do something to the "travel plans" of all their citizens who come here illegally?

Now that's a good point! The corrupt PRI that's ruled Mexico for most of the last century, likes the outside income (sort of like Castro does) to keep the poplulation afloat, while they used oil income to finance their politics and life style. Too bad Fox spoiled their little racket. Too bad too the PRI still holds a majority in the congress and mayoral posts.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

They're mad as wet hens because Castro said he was hurried out of Mexico before Bush arrived--of course it's all contrived because Fox isn't a communist and they're don't hold the presidency.

[FITZ]

Fox's "passivity" in regard to a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that immigrants working illegally in the United States do not have the same rights to restitution as Americans who are mistreated on the job.

Too bad Fox and PRI don't start becoming concerned about Mexicans' rights in their own country. Neither party --PAN or PRI cares anything about improving Mexico so people won't have to leave ---they actually want them to leave. They could change things but they get too rich this way.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

Good morning, GW.

...and Fox's "passivity" in regard to a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that immigrants working illegally in the United States do not have the same rights to restitution as Americans who are mistreated on the job.

One of the things that has these Latins puzzled is that in most of these countries, the Supremes can be bribed to pass or not pass on laws as the President desires. In other words, they begin with the precept our Supreme Court is for sale -- crooked if you will; and therefore, it’s Bush’s fault for having let the Supremes rule as they did.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

Please forgive me, Cincinatus' Wife. "CG" was a typo.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

Again -- I mean "GW." I'd better leave this along while I'm still behind.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Yes. It's good to remember to view the situation from their perspective. And good morning to you!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

LOL!!

[putupon]

Does the Mexican Constitution have the right to deny citizens the right to swim?

[Cincinatus' Wife]

They don't have to swim they can practically walk across on the raw sewage.

[Tancredo Fan]

Angry over several U.S. policies, senators denied President Vicente Fox permission on Tuesday to travel to the United States and Canada -- the first time Congress has stopped a Mexican leader from leaving the country.

The arrogance of these meddlesome foreign pests never ceases to amaze.

[PatrioticAmerican]

The funny this is that the Mexican Senate probably has no idea what we really think!

[MissAmericanPie]

One down, twenty million to go. Now if the congress will keep their freakin citizens home, they can sulk, and we can rejoice.

[Bikers4Bush]

I jsut wish they'd expend as much energy keeping their citizens from coming here illegally as they do stopping Fox.

[MistyCA]

I have to agree with you! Thanks for the ping!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

I bet a lot of this is due to the fact President Fox said he's witholding the anouncement of how he'll vote on Cuba's international standing as a terrorist country until the new U.S. report is out. This is not going down well with the PRI or with Castro.

Mexico's Fox Lambasts Opposition After Trip Veto - By Pav Jordan [Full Text] MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Vicente Fox (news - web sites) on Tuesday lambasted the nation's former ruling party for vetoing his trip to the United States and Canada and accused the opposition of openly blocking executive initiatives.

In an indignant address to the nation, the president accused the majority opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which ruled Mexico for seven decades before Fox came along, of using their congressional muscle against him.

"It appears that the opposition has taken it upon itself to make sure that my government does not fulfill the promises of change that you all voted for," Fox said in a televised address hours after the Senate ruling.

Mexico's Senate, led by the PRI, made history earlier in the day by issuing the first-ever veto of a presidential trip on the grounds that it was a personal visit.

Fox was elected to the Mexican presidency in July 2000, vowing to change Mexico's decades-old system of patronage and boost the livelihoods of Mexican citizens.

Fox, solemn and stern before television viewers, said the U.S.-Canada trip could have seen accords for thousands of new jobs to Mexican seasonal workers in Canada. In the United States, Fox said his goal was to meet with the Hispanic community and draw more foreign investment to Mexico.

"This will not be possible because of the opposition led by the PRI," he said. A Senate spokesman said 71 members voted on Tuesday against the planned trip and 41 in favor. Mexican presidents require the permission of both Houses of Congress to make official visits out of the country.

More than just a canceled trip, the veto represents the latest blow in a thrust-and-parry battle between the PRI and Fox's National Action Party (PAN) government since he assumed the presidency in December 2000.

Tension between the executive branch and Congress became glaringly evident in December and January when legislators broke a constitutional deadline of Dec. 31 to pass the federal budget as they bickered through New Year's Eve, and then produced a second-rate spending and revenue package.

In February, Fox struck out at Congress in general, calling for an end to the bickering in the name of progress.

THE TRIP THAT WOULD NOT BE

Fox had intended to make a three-day trip, leaving on April 15 and taking in Seattle, where he planned to meet software giant Microsoft's chairman, Bill Gates, and members of the Mexican immigrant community.

He was then due to fly on to Vancouver and Calgary, in Canada, for meetings with businessmen and academics.

"My government will abide, as per the Constitution, to the decision adopted by the Senate," said Fox.

Fox made 15 trips abroad in 2001, the first full year of his presidency. Opposition politicians, who hold a majority in both Houses of Congress, have said he should spend more time attending to domestic affairs.

"This is a trip to which we say no because it has as its main objective a meeting with groups of Mexicans in the United States," said Silvia Hernandez Enriquez, a PRI Senator.

PRI Senator Fidel Herrera, interviewed on national television after Fox publicly accused the PRI of plying partisan politics, accused the president of making up the trip agenda after it was vetoed by the Senate.

"Fox is lying," he said. "I think he added all this after the decision and I am calling him a liar."

Members of the PRI, which has the largest single contingent in the Senate, and the left-wing Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) voted against Fox traveling.

Sources in the Mexican Embassy in Guatemala said Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda canceled his visit to the Central American nation for Wednesday so that he could talk to lawmakers about the Fox trip veto.

The Lower Chamber of Congress was expected to vote on the proposal in the next few days. If it votes in favor it would return to the Senate for a second reading but it was not clear whether there was enough time left to allow the Upper house to vote again before the planned starting date of the trip.

(With Greg Brosnan in Guatemala City) [End]

U.S. President George W. Bush (L) and Mexican President Vicente Fox (L) smile as they finish a joint press availability at the Palacio de Gobierno in Monterrey, Mexico, March 22, 2002. Bush denied any involvement in the sudden departure of Cuban leader Fidel Castro from U.N. summit for financing development. REUTERS/Jorge Silva - Mar 22 10:05 PM ET