Travel Ban on President Fox 

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source - carlosbalino@netzero.net


Mexican Senate Places Travel Ban on President Vicente Fox

Press Review by Luis Martin

April 10, 2002

The Mexican senate has denied president Vicente Fox permission to
travel to the United States and Canada on the 15 and 18 of the
current month. The decision appears to be the result of deep
differences over foreign policy and bitter struggles between the
senate, Foreign Relations Secretary Jorge Castaneda and President
Vicente Fox.

This is the first time in the history of the relations between the
executive and legislative branches that the Mexican congress votes
against a trip abroad by the president. This happened yesterday
despite the fact that the PAN deputies voted as a solid block to
allow the travel. The vote tally was 71 in favor to 41 opposed.

The travel ban comes in the wake an ongoing bitter dispute between
the senate and Castaneda resulting from the discourteous treatment
accorded president Fidel Castro at the Monterrey Summit. The senate
had asked Castaneda to testify regarding the incident but he declined
saying that he had a busy trip schedule.

Members of the opposition in the congress, the PRI and PRD, which
constitute a majority over the PAN, the party of president Fox,
recently demonstrated much anger over a U.S. Supreme Court ruling
which denied the protections of the labor laws to undocumented
immigrants victimized by their employers.

After the vote was taken and the opposition was celebrating the
victory, senator Silvia Hernández, Chairperson of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee in the Mexican congress, told La Jornada
newspaper that the PRI senators are no longer interested in meeting
with Castaneda. "We also have much work to do", she added.

Hernandez also stated that senators are deeply concerned over
questions of foreign policy, among them, if there are plans to place
U.S. agents in Mexican airports.

Hernandez, said that the vote in the senate was a response for the
lack of will in president Fox to vigorously defend the rights of
Mexicans in the U.S. "No matter how much we say to be supporting them
(the immigrants), when the time comes to show it, nothing is done, so
he might as well not go", said Hernandez in a separate interview.


courtesy of CBIACS:
Articles in the spanish language press with relevance to Cuba
 
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