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Bush focuses on immigration, trafficking in Mexico
By Laurent Lozano
AFP
MERIDA, Mexico
Petroleumworld.com 03 14 07US President George W. Bush met his Mexican counterpart Tuesday to discuss the thorny issues of illegal immigrants and drugs that pour across the common border.
President Felipe Calderon set the tone in blunt terms, making it clear Mexico felt neglected by its powerful northern neighbor but hoped to give a new impetus to bilateral relations.
Bush's two-day visit to his northern neighbor was the last stop on his goodwill trip to Latin America marked by violent protests and a rival tour of the hemisphere by Bush's regional nemesis, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Calderon stressed the bilateral relations are crucial for both countries.
"Unfortunately the terrible happenings against the Unites States made that, in a very understandable way, the priorities changed," he said in reference to the September 11, 2001 attacks, which critics say led the US administration to turn its back on Latin America as it focuses on its "war on terror."
"Nevertheless I believe it is now time ... to direct our relationship toward a path of mutual prosperity," Calderon said as he and Bush sat down for talks at the tightly-guarded Hacienda Temozon resort outside the southeastern Mexican city of Merida.
The presidents were certain to focus on illegal immigration and drug trafficking, two key issues that have strained bilateral relations.
On Monday, Bush said in Guatemala that he hoped a comprehensive reform of US immigration laws would become reality by August.
The issue is of particular importance for Mexico, which supplies the bulk of the clandestine workers, and whose economy relies heavily on the more than 18 million dollars sent home by Mexicans working in the United States.
The remittances are Mexico's second-biggest source of foreign income after oil earnings, according to the International Monetary Fund.
Bush has pushed for a regularization of the status of some of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States, but rejects an outright amnesty.
He also wants tighter border controls to halt illegal crossings as well as drug trafficking from Mexico, a major transshipment route for cocaine sent from Colombia and the main producer of US-bound marijuana, heroin and methamphetamine.
Mexico has protested the construction of a barrier along more than 1,000 kilometers (625 miles) of the roughly 3,000-kilometer (1,875-mile) border.
"We've got a very long border, and it needs to be enforced," Bush said on Monday.
"It needs to be enforced not only to stop 'coyotes'," he said in reference to immigrant traffickers, "but it needs to be enforced to stop drugs."
Calderon has stressed the United States needs to do its part by cracking down on consumption of the illegal drugs, which he called the root cause of some of the worst problems experienced by Mexico -- the scene of deadly battles between rival drug gangs.While the United States has enjoyed close ties with Mexico over the past six years, Calderon has made it clear since taking office in December that he intended to be tougher with the powerful neighbor than his predecessor and fellow-conservative Vicente Fox.
Fox had faced strong criticism for failing to make any substantial progress on the immigration issue despite what was seen as cozy relations with the United States.
Late Monday, small groups of demonstrators protested Bush's arrival in Mexico, following violent protests that marked his previous stops in Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia and Guatemala.
The White House has downplayed the protests that accompanied Bush as he sought to dispel perceptions the United States had turned its back on Latin America, where a number of leftist leaders opposed to US policies have been elected in past years.
Bush was scheduled to return to Washington on Wednesday following a joint news conference with Calderon.
AFP 13 1629 GMT 03 07
Copyright© 2007 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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