Pubdate: Tue, 04 Sep 2001
Source: New York Times (NY)
Section: Editoral/Op-ED
Copyright: 2001 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Vicente Fox
Note: Vicente Fox is president of Mexico.

MORE TRUST ON BOTH SIDES OF THE BORDER

MEXICO CITY -- When I arrive at the White House tomorrow, I'll be bringing 
something new in my briefcase. It won't be another petition; it won't be 
another complaint; it won't be another request of the sort that many 
Americans have become wary of. What I bring is simple yet significant: trust.

I realize that trust is not a concept that usually springs to mind when 
Americans think about Mexico. For years, the United States operated on the 
assumption that Mexico was governed by liars and thieves at worst or, at 
best, by technocratic authoritarians. Meanwhile, Mexico has long harbored 
suspicions about its neighbor to the north and acted accordingly. Bad blood 
and distrust ran deep on both sides of the border, making collaboration on 
many issues difficult if not impossible. The time has come to make trust 
the keystone of our agenda.

Over the last few years much has changed: the United States and Mexico are 
no longer just uneasy neighbors. The North American Free Trade Agreement 
has created an economic partnership, based on shared goals and shared 
responsibilities. The border is no longer the scar that Carlos Fuentes 
described in "Gringo Viejo," but part of a North American identity.

More important, democracy has been brought about in Mexico by its people. I 
won the election in 2000 because I recognized the profound changes that had 
already taken place and because Mexico was ready to reject the past.

Political reform in Mexico is seeping into all structures of the federal 
government and out to the state and local levels. The way political power 
is exercised has begun to change dramatically. The relationship between 
government and Mexican society is being rebuilt on the basis of 
accountability and the rule of law. Relations between the government and 
the media are based on greater transparency and openness. Our government is 
guided by a system of checks and balances between the different branches of 
government that curtails presidential power.

Mexico's democratization can lead to relations with the United States that 
are based on trust and common goals, where differences of policy can be 
resolved without rancor. Greater trust explains the important progress we 
have made over the past few months on many issues.

Foremost among them is migration, an issue on which Mexico and the United 
States have agreed to agree. The current situation requires far-reaching 
policy reforms on both sides of the border. Addressing the situation of the 
more than three million Mexicans currently in the United States without 
legal status is one of the central issues in the negotiations currently 
underway between our governments, along with significant increases in legal 
entries, a seasonal or guest worker program, and even a shared 
border-control program.

Dealing with the migration phenomenon will bring great benefits in both the 
short and the long term. Working and living conditions would improve for 
Mexican workers in the United States, disincentives would be created for 
workers crossing the border without documents and, with the right regional 
development programs, the Mexican work force could be given economic 
incentives to stay home, bringing about growth in my country.

President Bush and I are committed to reaching an agreement that will be 
fair and humane -- and realistic. We both realize that migration is not 
simply a problem to be dealt with, but an opportunity to be seized. Migrant 
labor bolsters the American economy, while migrant remittances fuel the 
Mexican economy.

We must also make progress on other items of our bilateral agenda, 
including counternarcotics cooperation. Our governments need to be united 
against drug traffickers, whose actions pose such a great threat to our 
societies.

We need to improve intelligence and information sharing, and to end 
counterproductive measures like the annual drug certification process by 
which the United States unilaterally determines which countries are 
cooperating in the fight against drugs. Since the beginning of my 
administration last December, cooperation between our governments has 
allowed us to extradite an increased number of fugitives and to deliver 
significant blows to all drug trafficking organizations in Mexico.

Greater trust will also allow more productive forms of interaction in our 
hemisphere. Mexico and the United States can jointly work to broaden and 
deepen human rights and democracy in the Americas. Although we will not 
always see eye to eye, our growing partnership will allow us to disagree 
constructively on regional and global issues like the proper way to engage 
Cuba at a moment of change.

Previous Mexican governments lacked the legitimacy and the vision to 
transform Mexico's foreign policy and to improve the United States- Mexico 
relationship along these lines. Now is the time to put forward a number of 
issues that affect both countries and to push decisively for new bilateral 
understandings.

Tough decisions will have to be made by both governments, and they need to 
be made now. If we lose momentum, we will lose the opportunities at hand. 
Mexico is willing to tackle the difficult choices that lie ahead and fully 
hopes that the United States will meet us halfway. This change in attitude 
and policies will require trust and fair play. Trust has been sown, and now 
it needs to flourish.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager