{Excerpt: For Mexico, migration to the United States is a mainstay of
the economy; U.S. officials, on the other hand, see the issue in terms
of national security and border safety....."The situation is very
sensitive, because the points of tension are very sensitive," said
political scientist Oscar Aguilar Ascencio.....Not coincidentally, those
issues have come to loggerheads just as Mexico enters the campaign
season for its July 2 presidential elections.}
Mexico-U.S. Relations Deteriorating
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060127/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/mexico_us_frayed_relations;_ylt=AugQn9K7oV4IfHwPP7KSI8i3IxIF;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHVqMTQ4BHNlYwN5bnN1YmNhdA--
By MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press Writer Fri Jan 27, 4:45 AM ET
MEXICO CITY - It has been a trying week for Mexico-U.S. relations: a
tense border confrontation between U.S. agents and apparent drug
traffickers, a Mexican group's offer to print maps of the Arizona desert
for illegal migrants and an exchange of terse diplomatic notes.
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The administration of Mexican President
Vicente Fox has its share of quarrels with other countries, but this
promised to be one of the trickiest — involving the country's northern
neighbor and largest trading partner at a time when the U.S. Congress is
debating immigration reform.
For Mexico, migration to the United States is a mainstay of the economy;
U.S. officials, on the other hand, see the issue in terms of national
security and border safety.
"The situation is very sensitive, because the points of tension are very
sensitive," said political scientist Oscar Aguilar Ascencio.
Not coincidentally, those issues have come to loggerheads just as Mexico
enters the campaign season for its July 2 presidential elections.
Mexico's decision on Thursday to issue a diplomatic note asking U.S.
Ambassador Tony Garza to stop making public comments about security and
immigration issues may have more to do with domestic politics than
anything else.
The note also demanded results in the investigation of the December
shooting death of a Mexican migrant in California, which caused outrage
south of the border.
"It's for internal consumption," Aguilar Ascencio said. "We're in an
election year, and that's the context in which you have to view this."
The same context could apply to Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Ernesto
Derbez's suggestion Thursday that uniformed men in a military-style
Humvee who helped apparent drug traffickers escape back into Mexico
earlier this week may have been U.S. soldiers or U.S. criminals
disguised as Mexican troops.
As unlikely as that may be, it plays well for domestic audiences,
Aguilar Ascencio said.
Not all the rhetoric has come from Mexican officials: Many here say U.S.
proposals to build hundreds of miles of border walls are political
grandstanding for a domestic audience, rather than a realistic solution
to illegal immigration.
On Wednesday,
Homeland Security Secretary
Michael Chertoff condemned in "the strongest terms" plans by a Mexican
governmental commission to distribute maps showing highways, water tanks
and rescue beacons in the Arizona desert.
"This effort will entice more people to cross, leading to more migrant
deaths and the further enrichment of the criminal human trafficking
rings that prey on the suffering of others," Chertoff said.
The United States sent its own diplomatic note demanding an
investigation of Monday's border incident in which the men dressed in
military-style uniforms unloaded what appeared to be bundles of
marijuana before setting fire to an SUV that bogged down in the Rio
Grande as Texas law enforcement officers watched from the other side of
the river.
Mexican leaders are eager not to be seen as backing down in the face of
U.S. pressure. When Mexico "suspended" plans to print the migrant maps,
it said it did so to avoid exposing migrants to American vigilantes, not
because of U.S. criticism.
"We are not responding to that," said commission spokesman Angel
Paredes. "We have not taken that into account."
Mexico may be relying on Washington to understand that it's election
season here, and not to respond to the rising rhetoric.
"I don't think this is going to damage things very much," Aguilar
Ascencio said. "There are interests at stake that are just too practical."
"I think what the United States is likely to do is not escalate the
conflict," Aguilar Ascencio said. "Just take note ... and say 'That's
fine, I understand.'"
"The Mexican government is obliged to do this song and dance," he said.
enditem
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