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Mexican President Visits Washington
Mexican President Vicente Fox arrives in Washington Tuesday for a 2-day summit with President Bush that he had hoped would redefine their countries' relationship as one of close friends rather than troubled neighbors.
But sobered by political troubles in Mexico and a slowing U.S. economy, Fox says he now realizes that before the relationship can move forward, he needs to create a foundation of trust.
In an interview Tuesday, Fox said, "The voyage to me represents an opportunity to win the confidence of the United States in a Mexican government that is honest, transparent, democratic and legitimate."
Fox said he hopes his private talks with Bush ¡ª and a speech Thursday to Congress ¡ª will advance the countries' partnership "one step, two steps, three steps forward."
However, such modest objectives represent a step back from earlier expectations that the two heads of state would achieve breakthrough agreements cementing the countries' integration.
Fox's election in July 2000 ended the Institutional Revolutionary Party's 71-year monopoly on power in Mexico. But so far he has been unable to deliver on his campaign promises of job growth and improved public security. His task of governing has been made more difficult by his country's mild recession, a victim of U.S. economic weakness.
U.S. officials plan to outline several incentives to the Mexican president. They include a Bush proposal to increase the number of temporary worker visas available to Mexicans and the possibility the United States will earmark money for economically depressed areas of Mexico that are the source of many migrants.
The Bush administration is stopping short of Fox's hopes on significant immigration reforms. But the Bush administration is likely to propose expanding temporary visas for non-agricultural workers nearly fivefold, to 300,000 a year.
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