| | |  News Around the Republic of Mexico | September 2008 
Mexican President Enjoys Newfound Freedom to Fly
 Marc Lacey - New York Times
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| | Boeing 757 "Presidente Juárez" | | |
Mexico City — On his way to New York for the United Nations General Assembly meeting on Tuesday, President Felipe Calderón of Mexico will hop on his presidential jet for the very first time without having to ask permission to fire up the engines and go.
Until the Constitution was changed over the summer, Mexican presidents had to seek approval from their nation’s Congress every time they sought to touch a toe on foreign soil. If the Congress was in an ornery mood, as it was during former President Vicente Fox’s term, it could — and sometimes did — say no.
Twice, Mr. Fox was embarrassed when lawmakers told him he could not leave the country. The first time came during a low point in his relations with Congress in 2002, when a trip to the United States and Canada had to be scratched. Soon after, a planned trip to Australia was grounded because the president’s critics suggested that Mr. Fox was going there to visit his daughter. A stop in Vietnam for the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting was rejected as well.
When Mr. Calderón took office in 2006, after a hard-fought election that ended in a virtual tie, many speculated that he would spend much of his six-year term stuck in Mexico. After all, his National Action Party lacks a majority in Congress and some opposition lawmakers do not even recognize him as the country’s legitimate president.
Things remain so tense that he delivers his annual address to Congress in written form without venturing into the volatile chambers.
As it turns out, Mr. Calderón managed to use the Presidente Juárez, as the official presidential Boeing 757 is known, for numerous foreign trips, visiting 26 countries in the past 20 months without any congressional interference.
And the constitutional change, which passed Congress, albeit with plenty of opposition, means that only presidential treks of more than a week will require the president to approach lawmakers with hat in hand. Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa has said the change will allow more flexibility in presidential travel and "increase and strengthen the country’s work overseas."
Mr. Calderón, who has his hands full with an escalating drug war and a contentious plan to overhaul the country’s energy sector, plans to be back in Mexico by Thursday, well within the deadline. |
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