Mexico

U.S.-Mexico Relations Improve
with San Cristobal Summit

This past February U.S. President George W. Bush traveled to San Cristobal, Guanajuato, Mexico to meet with Mexico’s president, Vicente Fox Quesada. President Bush acknowledged that he purposefully made Mexico the destination of his first official foreign visit. (The three most recent U.S. presidents’ first official visits were to Canada.) “Mexico is the first foreign country I have visited as President, and I intended it to be that way,” said Mr. Bush. “Our nations are bound together by ties of history, family, values, commerce and culture. Today these ties give us an unprecedented opportunity; they give us a chance to build a partnership that will improve the lives of citizens in both countries. I came here today to seek President Fox’s views on how we can go about building on our partnership.”
The two presidents share a fondness for ranching and cowboy boots. Each owns a ranch, and during their visit they took time to enjoy a horseback ride together on President Fox’s.

Immigration

Mexican President Vicente Fox Quesada and U.S. President George W. Bush walk toward Air Force One on February 16, 2001 in Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico.

President Fox, of Mexico’s National Action Party (PAN), made history on July 2, 2000 when he became the first presidential candidate from an opposition party to defeat the incumbent Institutional Revolution Party (PRI) since 1929. (Mexico has had the world’s longest-ever rule by one party.) President Bush expressed his admiration for Mexico’s new president declaring, “It is a great honor to come to Mexico as this important nation enjoys a new birth of freedom signaled by President Fox’s election.”

President Fox stated that the purpose for the summit was to establish priorities between the two countries and not to examine details of any one issue. However, the one-day event did produce preliminary statements on issues that will in the future be discussed by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Jorge Castañeda Gutman, as well as other officials, who will work out concrete policy.

Among the topics discussed by the presidents was immigration. “We talked about immigration from the point of view of our countrymen in the United States,” said President Fox. “Furthermore, we spoke about the possibilities of arriving at agreements on documented seasonal employment. We also discussed firmly fighting the violence in the immigration issue; looking to collaborate to apply the law concerning “coyotes” and those people that precisely put a great deal of our fellow Mexicans in trouble.” President Bush added that they exchanged “ideas about safe and orderly migration, a policy that respects individuals on both sides of the border.” Mr. Fox also noted a change in attitude on the part of the United States saying, “there is a new manner of looking at these things, much more positive concerning the immigration issue. I think that this is a great advancement from what we have had in the past.”

Drug trade

Mexican children wish the two presidents well at the Leon, Guanajuato airport.

The presidents also had serious discussions on the subject of the two countries’ drug trade. Movies such as “Traffic” have criticized Mexico for its role in the problem. But President Bush stated that the demand in the U.S. for narcotics is what is creating the supply. “I trust your president,” said Mr. Bush. “He is the kind of man you can look in the eye and know he is shooting straight with you. We need to work together on the drug issue. One reason, the main reason drugs are shipped through Mexico to the United States is because United States citizens use drugs. Our nation must do a better job of educating our citizenry about the dangers and evils of drug use.”
President Bush also indicated that the U.S. Congress is reviewing its drug recertification process, through which it decides whether or not to recertify countries working with the U.S. to battle drug trafficking, affecting foreign aid to those countries. President Fox has been outspoken about his dislike for the process. He also asserted that he will greatly assist the U.S. with extradition. “I am certainly going to take the message back to the members of Congress that I firmly believe that President Fox will do everything in his power to root out the drug lords and to halt drug trafficking the best that he possibly can,” said Mr. Bush. “He made some very bold and courageous statements about extradition. I believe when the American people and the members of Congress hear this bold action that he is willing to take they will understand what I know, that he is committed to battling the drug trade.”

Economic ties

President Bush gives President Fox a tour of Air Force One before returning to Washington.

During the summit the presidents reiterated their commitment to further strengthening economic ties between their two countries and discussed how to curb the effects of the U.S. economic slowdown. “The President and I talked about economic growth,” said Mr. Bush. “If our economy were to slow significantly, it would affect our abilities to see the benefits of free trade. It would affect the Mexican economy. I want to assure our friends from Mexico that we will put . . . fiscal policy in place that will affect economic growth, because it is beneficial not only for our people but the Mexican people as well.”
President Fox, a former CEO of Coca-Cola Mexico, added that, “the levels of trade that we have accomplished between the United States and Mexico are undeniable. No one would have thought that in the year 2001 there would be a trade balance between our two countries of $250 billion. This significance has meant development for the United States, has demonstrated employment in the United States and has demonstrated the development of employment in Mexico.”

Energy issues

Energy issues were also discussed at the meeting. California’s energy problems and water quality problems along the border have caused concerns in the U.S about having reliable supplies of energy and water available to consumers and businesses. “We are talking about working on building an energy policy for the entire northern part of the continent—Canada, the United States, Mexico and Central America,” said Mr. Fox. “We want to provoke synergies so that each country and all of us benefit at the same time. What is important here is that we have a common policy, where no one can take advantage of the other, but the opposite, that all of us benefit from optimizing the energy issue for the benefit of the entire continent.” President Bush agreed. He also noted the importance of sharing resources and developing new energy generation facilities saying, “We have to think about the lack of energy and the demand of energy with respect to the entire hemisphere. The President and I spoke about how we can better share the resources to benefit both countries. We also spoke about the possibility of exploration in Canada, the United States and Mexico. Another possible opportunity is the generation of energy and the possibility of importing more to California.”

Mexico and the United States share one of the longest international borders in the world — over 2,000 miles — which creates between them a natural economic interdependence. Both presidents affirmed that the San Cristobal Summit was an important step in strengthening their ties. “We are welcoming a new day in our relationship between America and Mexico,” said President Bush. “Each nation has a new president and a new perspective. Geography has made us neighbors; cooperation and respect will make us partners. The promise of the partnership was renewed and reinvigorated today.” President Fox was in agreement adding, “We are looking with determination to remove what are obstacles and to take advantage of what are the opportunities. Certainly, today we have seen that there are many more opportunities than obstacles. Therefore, I feel that this permits us to see the near future with much more optimism.”

FACTS ABOUT THE
UNITED MEXICAN STATES

• Area: 767,919 square miles
• Population: 94 million, est.
• Capital: Mexico City (population 20
million, est.)
• Climate: Hot and wet along the coast; mild, dry winters and hot, dry summers in the north; mild, dry winters in the central highlands
• Languages: Spanish (official) and 52 Indian dialects, est.
• Ethnic groups: Spanish/Indian mixed (60%), Indian (30%), White (9%), other (1%)
• Chief commercial products: Petroleum and petroleum products, cotton, coffee, non-ferrous metals, shrimp, sulfur, fresh fruit and vegetables, clothing
• Chief industries: Border assembly plant manufacturing, tourism
• Currency: Peso (9.61 pesos = US$1, March 16, 2001)
• Per capita annual income: US$4,565
• Annual inflation rate: 8.1% (Jan. 2000-Jan. 2001)
• Interest rate: 6.9% (Jan. 2001)
• Reserves: US$39,421 million (Jan. 2001)
• Export revenues: US$12,800 million, approx. (Jan. 2001)
• Import revenues: US$14,000 million, approx. (Jan. 2001)
• Former colonial status: Spanish colony (1510-1821)
• Independence date: September 16, 1810 (observed); September 27, 1821 (achieved)
• National flag: Green, white and red vertical stripes with the national coat of arms (an eagle, perched on a nopal cactus, strangling a snake) in the white stripe
Sources: Latin Trade, June 2001;
Robert T. Buckman,
“Latin America 2000,”
34th edition;
Mexican Secretary of
Social Services