MEXICO CITY (Ginger Thompson, NYork Times)
September 5, 2005 - President Vicente Fox responded this weekend to
criticism from U.S. officials about a recent surge in violence and
illegal immigration along the border, saying the United States shares
responsibility for the problems and should work harder with Mexico to
correct them.
Fox said he "forcefully" rejected the statements by the Bush administration and border-state governors, 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 as potential terrorists when they had become pillars of the U.S. economy.
In an interview aboard the presidential airplane 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 . . . 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 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 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 border violence. The Bush administration has issued numerous travel advisories, describing rampant violence by heavily armed drug traffickers and warning tourists that they cannot rely on corrupt Mexican authorities to protect them.
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.
Fox said he "forcefully" rejected the statements by the Bush administration and border-state governors, 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 as potential terrorists when they had become pillars of the U.S. economy.
In an interview aboard the presidential airplane 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 . . . 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 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 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 border violence. The Bush administration has issued numerous travel advisories, describing rampant violence by heavily armed drug traffickers and warning tourists that they cannot rely on corrupt Mexican authorities to protect them.
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.
