http://www.boston.com/dailynews/099/world/Senate_denies_Mexican_presiden:.shtml

Senate denies Mexican president permission to travel to Canada, United States

By Traci Carl, Associated Press, 4/9/2002 23:50

MEXICO CITY (AP) The Senate 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, angry over several U.S. policies, voted 71-41 against Fox's request to travel next week to the western United States and Canada, saying the trip did not appear to be worth the expense.

The action appeared to leave Fox little option but to ask the Senate again for permission or to cancel his visit north. Under Mexican law, the Senate must authorize any presidential trips outside of Mexico.

Many lawmakers said the vote was in protest of Mexico's growing coziness with the United States, and Fox's ''passivity'' to a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that immigrants working illegally in the United States do not have the same rights 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.

Sen. Genaro Borrego, of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, said his party voted against the trip to reject ''the insensitive and closed conduct of delicate issues that could risk the nation's sovereignty,'' a reference to cooperation between Mexico and the United States to secure their common border against terrorists.

In a television address late Tuesday, Fox called the Congressional 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 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 on domestic concerns.

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

He was scheduled to travel next week to Calgary, Alberta, and Vancouver, British Columbia, 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 a result of 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.

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2002