Mexico Gets Support of 27 Nations to Attack U.S. Plans for Border Fence in OAS
 Associated Press
| | Checkpoint at the US-Mexican border. A new trial started against a truck driver charged in connection with the deaths of 19 undocumented immigrants who died inside his overheated vehicle while being smuggled into the United States from Mexico. (AFP/Robyn Beck) |
Mexico, supported by 27 other nations, made a declaration at the Organization of American States slamming U.S. plans to build hundreds of miles of fence on its southern border.
The declaration, read aloud Wednesday at the OAS headquarters in Washington, said the barriers would not solve the immigration problem and urged the U.S. government to rethink its position, according to press releases from the OAS and Mexican foreign ministry.
The 28 nations express "deep concern regarding the decision adopted by the United States of America to build and extend a wall on its border with Mexico, considering it to be a unilateral measure that goes against the spirit of understanding," it said in the declaration, which was read out by Mexico's Ambassador Alejandro Garcia Moreno.
The United States refused to sign the declaration, with its Ambassador Robert Manzanares saying it could not attack a decision made by its legislative bodies, according to the OAS release.
Last month, the U.S. Senate approved a bill to build 1,100 kilometers (700 miles) of border fencing. U.S. President George W. Bush has said he will sign it into law, despite pleas from the Mexican government for a veto.
Mexican President Vicente Fox has called the plan "shameful" and compared it to the Berlin Wall.
An estimated 11 million Mexicans live in the United States, about half them illegally.
The 27 nations that supported Mexico in Wednesday's declaration were Antigua, Argentina, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Granada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, San Kitts and Nevis, San Lucia, San Vicente, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela.
Mexico has also said it will challenge the fence plans at the United Nations.
Canada Joins Criticism of Wall
El Universal
Ottawa - At the close of the 14th annual Mexico-Canada interparliamentary meetings on Tuesday, Canadian lawmakers came out in support of their Mexican counterparts in voicing concern over plans for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The legislators, headed by Sen. Rose Marie Cool and House of Commons Speaker Peter Milliken, signed a statement expressing hopes the situation "can be resolved, taking into account the spirit of good neighbors that characterize our countries."
Their sympathies were based in fears that a wall along the U.S.-Canada border could be next. The lawmakers also expressed concerns that such a wall will negatively impact commerce, tourism and the possibility of a guest worker agreement.
The Canadians also supported a Mexican proposal to conduct annual trilateral legislative reunions that include U.S. counterparts.
This meeting, if accepted by members of the U.S. Congress, would not replace the annual bilateral meetings.
The delegation, headed by PAN Sen. Santiago Creel, also helped with preparations for President-elect Felipe Calderón´s two-day visit to Canada beginning on Thursday. |
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News Around the Republic of Mexico | October 2006 
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