Pubdate: Sun, 13 May 2001
Source: Corpus Christi Caller-Times (TX)
Copyright: 2001 Corpus Christi Caller-Times
Contact: http://www.caller.com/commcentral/email_ed.htm
Website: http://www.caller.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/872
Author: Steve Lawrence

US-MEXICAN LAWMAKERS HEAR NEW TONE

NAPA, Calif. (AP) - Mexican and American lawmakers said Saturday that 
their countries have entered a new era in which they can discuss 
disagreements without rancor.

``I think we have changed the tone of our conversations,'' Mexican 
Sen. Silvia Hernandez said as delegations from the countries' 
Congresses wrapped up an annual conference. ``We have gone from 
confrontation to dialogue.''

U.S. Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., agreed. ``We approach each other 
without recriminations, without the kind of rhetoric and finger 
pointing that has all too often characterized the relationship in the 
past.''

It was the group's first meeting since Mexico's long-dominant 
political party, the PRI, lost the presidency and its majorities in 
the Mexican Congress.

Hernandez, a PRI member, said the conference gave Mexican lawmakers 
an opportunity to show their American counterparts that they are no 
longer rubber stamps of a PRI president.

``Clearly the Mexican Congress has a new and much enhanced and 
important role than it has had in the past and that makes us in the 
U.S. Congress anxious to work with our counterparts in Mexico,'' said 
Kolbe.

The conference included closed-door discussions on energy problems, 
drug trafficking, trade and immigration.

Sessions said there were no real agreements reached, but the two 
delegations decided to hold a hearing on energy problems and to visit 
border areas to see how illegal immigrants are treated by U.S. 
authorities.

``This has never been (a conference) that reaches agreements and sets 
policy,'' he said. ``But it shapes the attitudes of individuals on 
both sides who will be providing leadership in the countries.''

He said Mexican lawmakers expressed concerns about how Mexican 
immigrants are treated if they are arrested in the United States, but 
Sessions said he thought those concerns were ``overblown.''

All three lawmakers said they doubted the two countries would have an 
open border in the near future, but Sessions and Kolbe said the U.S. 
Congress may be willing to authorize an expanded guest worker program 
that would allow more Mexicans to work in the United States legally.

The two Americans also said that Congress may be willing to scrap or 
significantly modify a law that ties U.S. aid to a country's efforts 
to combat drug trafficking. That policy has been criticized by Mexico.

Sessions said Mexican lawmakers expressed strong concern that drugs 
are threatening their country with addiction and corruption.

``Many told me in the meetings and in private that they recognize 
that this is a serious threat to their long-term future and they are 
prepared to deal with it,'' Sessions said. ``They would be more 
effective in fighting drugs for that reason than simply to satisfy 
some requirement of the United States.''
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MAP posted-by: Josh Sutcliffe