Posted on 03/02/2004 5:07:32 PM PST by sarcasm
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico will complain to President Bush at talks this week in Texas about Oklahoma's plans to execute a Mexican convict, but an analyst says a newfound friendship between the two countries should stay on track.
Mexico is upset that Oklahoma this week defied the U.N.'s International Court of Justice and set May 18 as the date for the execution of Osvaldo Torres, convicted of a double murder in 1993.
``This for us is a deliberate violation of the provisional measures that the International Court of Justice dictated,'' Geronimo Gutierrez, a senior Mexican foreign ministry official, said on Tuesday.
He said Mexican President Vicente Fox would bring up the case with Bush when the pair meet at the U.S. president's ranch in Crawford, Texas, this Friday and Saturday.
``We are urging the U.S. federal government to take all the necessary measures to protect the life of Osvaldo Torres and the other Mexicans,'' Gutierrez told a news conference.
The Mexican president angrily canceled a planned meeting with Bush in Texas in 2002 after the state executed a Mexican prisoner.
The world court, based in The Hague, ordered a stay of execution for Torres and two Mexican convicts in Texas in February 2003.
The court ruled U.S. authorities denied them and dozens of other Mexican prisoners on death row help from their consulates, which they were entitled to under international law.
STILL 'AMIGOS'
Fox and Bush are also set to discuss Bush's plan to reform immigration law, which would allow millions of Mexicans to earn temporary visas, and a long dispute over water sharing on their border.
Mexican political analyst Jorge Chabat said the planned execution would not derail a recent reconciliation between the two presidents, who fell out last year over the war in Iraq.
``The two governments have realized that they cannot fight each other too much. That is interdependence,'' he said.
Mexico, an increasingly important trade partner for the United States, sends about 90 percent of its exports to its northern neighbor.
Chabat said the two leaders might agree on ways to reduce the number of illegal immigrants who die every year crossing the 2,000-mile border.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and Mexican Interior Minister Santiago Creel announced a plan last month to send Mexican illegal immigrants caught crossing the frontier back to their hometowns by bus or plane.
There are doubts over the proposal because the Mexican Constitution forbids depriving citizens of their right to travel in Mexican territory.
But Washington is pleased at Mexico's willingness to cooperate on policing the border, seen by some as a soft U.S. underbelly in the war on terrorism.
Mexico is keen to reduce the number of illegal aliens who die, mostly from exposure and exhaustion, crossing the desert to find a better life in the United States.
It also wants to keep cross-border trade from slowing down due to tightened security or a terror alert.
``It is in our mutual interests to have a secure border. Why? Because it is the most dynamic border in the world,'' said Gutierrez, undersecretary for U.S. affairs.
He said Fox, a former Coca-Cola executive, would also discuss with Bush a White House proposal to grant millions of temporary visas to illegal immigrants.
The plan faces opposition in the U.S. Congress and has been criticized as an election-year ploy to win Hispanic votes.
< SNIP >
Vietz said Torres-Vargas is in the country illegally after being deported from the Boise area to Mexico in 2003
Bull crap.
Then they should keep them at home.
Ugh!
"Mexico, an increasingly important trade partner for the United States, sends about 90 percent of its exports to its northern neighbor"
Two legged "exports". But, I'm sure he thought he was being cute with this one.
``This for us is a deliberate violation of the provisional measures that the International Court of Justice dictated,'' Geronimo Gutierrez, a senior Mexican foreign ministry official, said on Tuesday.Yawn... Wake me when you have something important to discuss. LOL
The two murdered people are a little POed themselves.
"We are urging the U.S. federal government to take all the necessary measures to protect the life of Osvaldo Torres and the other Mexicans," Gutierrez told a news conference.
ESAD
Mexican political analyst Jorge Chabat said the planned execution would not derail a recent reconciliation between the two presidents,
Bush has bad taste in amigos.
Mexico... sends about 90 percent of its exports to its northern neighbor.
SO I'VE NOTICED!
Death penalty? Vicente Fox says that Mexico doesn't believe in the death penalty. Who ya kiddin' Tuco?
Its all about eliminating our sovereignty. Nothing more, nothing less. Fox won't be happy until our border with them is totally eliminated.
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