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 Editorials | March 2007 
Bush Cultivating His New Amigo
 Maria Elena Salinas - Noticieros Univision
| | U.S. President George W. Bush, right, and Mexican President Felipe Calderon, left, during last week's arrival ceremony at Hacienda Temozon, in Temozon Sur, Mexico. (AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) |
President Bush couldn't have picked a more picture-perfect spot to visit in Mexico during his five-country tour of Latin America.
Merida is one of Mexico's premier destinations, with its rich culture, archaeological wonders and gastronomic delights.
It's unfortunate that during his 38-hour stay, parts of the city looked more like a fortress than the heart of Mayan civilization.
Originally planned as a courtesy visit, it was Mexican President Felipe Calderon who insisted official meetings with a working agenda should be on the schedule.
He couldn't very well justify taking two days out of his busy work schedule to visit Merida and play tour guide for Bush.
Bush and Calderon held three hours of bilateral meetings at the Hacienda Temozon, first alone and then with their delegations.
The other 35 hours were spent sleeping, eating and sightseeing.
Bush was protected by the finest and most extensive security American taxpayers can buy - thousands of military personnel, Secret Service agents, sharpshooters, sniffing dogs, at least a dozen military planes and helicopters transported in C-5 airplanes, and an aircraft carrier docked off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula.
The U.S. president's security might have been at stake during the trip, where he was received with violent protests at every stop. Politically, there was more at stake for his Mexican host.
Calderon's presidency got off to a fragile start when his legitimacy was questioned by his opponent, who lost by a fraction of a percentage point.
He made it through his first 100 days with more hits than misses on the domestic front, but Bush's trip was his first real opportunity to showcase his foreign agenda.
He needed to show he could put the bilateral relationship with the U.S. back on track without being submissive.
From the U.S. side, it was the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 that derailed what had started off as a honeymoon of sorts between Bush and former Mexican President Vicente Fox.
For Mexico, according to Calderon, it was Fox's insistence on making the immigration debate the one issue that would define the relationship that prevented it from moving forward.
In an interview after Bush's visit, Calderon told me he would take a different approach:
"I am going to confront the issues with the seriousness, clarity, firmness and sincerity that is required among two friends."
That includes security, drug trafficking and commerce.
So, immigration might not be the only issue in this new and improved relationship between the two neighbors, but you can bet it will be a major one.
Unlike Fox, Calderon isn't lobbying for the legalization of undocumented Mexicans in the U.S., but rather is asking for more investment, foreign and domestic, to create jobs in Mexican territory so its citizens don't feel the need to leave in order to make a decent living.
"To build a kilometer of roads in Zacatecas or Michoacan is more valuable than building 10 kilometers of fence along the border in Texas or Arizona," he said - a theory he has turned into his most celebrated phrase.
Bush didn't commit to any investments to help build those roads in Mexico. Nor did he suggest he would stop the building of the fence, but he did promise Calderon and the Mexican people that he would work to get comprehensive immigration reform, which would include a guest worker program, passed through Congress.
Calderon says the two countries have agreed to create task forces that will look for ways to improve security on both sides of the border. He chastised Bush for the arms trafficking from the U.S. that puts weapons in the hands of organized crime.
The Mexican president's boldest move since coming into office has been sending the army to states taken over by violent drug traffickers.
He told Bush that now it's the U.S.'s turn to do its part and control the consumption of drugs that keeps the business going south of the border.
Building a new relationship with his new amigo in Mexico could help Bush improve his image in Latin America and among Latinos in the U.S. more than his overly protected seven-day tour through the region.
Salinas hosts "Noticieros Univision." Her Web site is www.mariaesalinas.com. |
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