Pubdate: Mon,  5 Sep 2005
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 2005 San Jose Mercury News
Contact:  http://www.mercurynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/390
Author: Ginger Thompson, New York Times

Mexican President Lashes Back At U.S.

FOX SAYS BOTH NATIONS SHARE RESPONSIBILITY FOR BORDER VIOLENCE

MEXICO CITY - President Vicente Fox responded over the weekend to criticism 
from U.S. authorities about a recent surge in violence and illegal 
immigration along the border, saying that the United States shares 
responsibility for the problems and should work harder with Mexico to 
correct them.

Fox said he rejected "forcefully" the statements by the Bush administration 
and governors of border states, contending they had unfairly depicted 
Mexico as a haven for organized crime, though his government has arrested 
more drug traffickers and dismantled more cartels than any of its 
predecessors. He also said Mexican immigrants had been portrayed unfairly 
as potential terrorists when they had in fact become a pillar of the U.S. 
economy.

In an interview Saturday, Fox acknowledged that his government had a long 
way to go to make the border secure. But he said the United States should 
stop casting blame for problems created by both countries.

He also said the United States should not allow concerns about border 
security to derail efforts to adopt new measures, two of them before 
Congress, that would allow millions of additional Mexicans to become guest 
workers in the United States.

"Security is a shared responsibility," Fox said. Then, referring to the 
United States, he said, "I don't understand that now they only cast blame 
and accusations, and they do not collaborate or cooperate so that together 
we can resolve this problem."

On the changes in immigration policy, he said: "There is will on the part 
of President Bush, according to what he has expressed publicly, and what he 
has expressed in conversations with us. So, I trust that in the coming 
weeks and months, we will succeed finally in arriving at a positive 
resolution for the benefit of both countries."

More pressing realities, however, may stand in the way. Work on immigration 
policy was first postponed four years ago, after the Sept. 11 attacks. Then 
it was put off for Bush's re-election campaign. Now, it may be set aside 
again as the United States struggles to recover from Hurricane Katrina.

But Fox does not have a lot of time left; he is entering his last year in 
office.

His comments were aimed at what many here perceive as a troubling shift in 
U.S. attitudes and diplomatic policy toward Mexico. In recent weeks, U.S. 
officials have openly berated Mexico for failing to stop a wave of 
drug-related violence that has cost close to 1,000 lives along the 
2,000-mile border.

Neither Fox nor his aides denied that the problems exist. But they said 
that the responses from the United States did not reflect the complexities 
of the problems, nor did they acknowledge that Mexico had undertaken 
unprecedented efforts to address them.
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman