Bush in Mexico for last stop on tour

[Judi Lynn]

Bush in Mexico for last stop on tour
POSTED: 5:06 a.m. EDT, March 13, 2007



President and first lady Laura Bush
leave Air Force One after it landed
Monday night in Merida, Mexico, on
the last leg of the president's five-
nation tour.

MERIDA, Mexico (AP) -- Mexican President Felipe Calderon has a tough message for U.S. President George W. Bush: The United States must do more -- "much more" -- to solve thorny issues of drug-trafficking and immigration.

At the last stop on his Latin American tour, Bush must convince Calderon on Tuesday that he is committed to soothing strained U.S.-Mexico relations, which got worse when Bush signed a law calling for construction of more than 700 miles (1,130 kilometers) of new fencing along the long border the two countries share.

Many Latin Americans see the fence as evidence that America is ripping up its welcome mat.

The welcome mat here for Bush's talks with Mexico's newly elected leader is muddied with anti-American sentiment, particularly over the war in Iraq.

Security is extremely tight in Merida, a city on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. Schools are closed. The area around the hotels where Bush and Calderon are staying is guarded by police and surrounded by metal barriers. Before Bush's arrival Monday evening, about 200 people marched through the streets, carrying Mexican flags and chanting "Bush is a murderer and he's not welcome!"
(snip/...)

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/03/13/bush.latin.america.ap/index.html

[Selatius]

1. Maybe Calderon should invest in social programs to combat poverty instead of dumping on the US.

In the end, the rich would have to pay the most for these social programs to rebuild a country devastated by incompetent management of the economy and corruption. If Mexico City really wants to do something for its poor, it ought to think seriously about how it treats its poor. Unfortunately, it seems rich, powerful families dominate the government in Mexico City.

[Peace Patriot]

2. Yeah, but it's also a hotbed of the Left. It's Obrador's city. I was wondering where they

stash Bush. I was right that he didn't dare show his face in Mexico City, where the Left can rally a million demonstrators overnight. Off to the Yucatan for Bush. Not a very safe place either for fascist warmongers, but more sparsely populated and a more controllable environment, since the boot came down on Oaxaca (hundreds of tortures, kidnappings, murders and 'disappearnces' of community and union leaders, by fascist paramilitaries under the control of Ulises Ruiz, the Governor of Oaxaca--a Calderon ally--also put in power with a stolen election). The Yucatan has a lot of sacred sites. I think these are the ones that Mayan priests have announced that they are going to purify with ceremonies after Bush has gone. Bush was also schmoozing with the fascists in Guatemala, where a big scandal has erupted over rightwing paramilitary drug-trafficking and murder (also a huge scandal on this in Colombia--another Bush stop). The Yucatan/Guatemala border area is a place of horrendous slaughter--200,000 Mayan villagers slain by the fascist dictators of Guatemala, in the '80s, with Reagan's direct complicity. The U.S.--particularly Bush, who appointed John 'death squad' Negroponte as Undersecretary of State for Latin America--is rightfully associated with the evil spirits of torture, bloodshed and oppression. The tribes in the border areas--what is left of them--hold these horrors in living memory. Children gutted in front of their parents, skinned alive. Families forced to witness the rape of their mothers and grandmothers. Whole villages burned to the ground. Entire villages slain--men, women, children, the elderly. 200,000! These things should be in OUR memory, but of course they are not. Our corporate media failed to report this at the time, and continue to ignore WHY Latin Americans might consider Bush to be "the devil."

[Doctor_J]

3. Smirk is as popular as nail fungus

I wonder who's paying for all of this max security everywhere he goes. Do we pay or do the Mexicans pay for all of this crap.

On the upside, it's nice to know that people OUTSIDE the US aren't afraid to protest his presence.

[bjb]

4. Bush

Bush should be welcomed with open arms there since he supports the latinos more than his own citizens.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Mexico deflated by Bush's visit

Mexico deflated by Bush's visit
By Adam Thomson in Mexico City

Updated: 16 minutes ago
On Monday evening, George W. Bush stepped on to Mexican soil at the beginning of a two-day visit to the US's southern neighbour and greeted each member of the welcoming committee with a: "Hi. How are you?"

If their replies had reflected the views of most Mexicans, they would almost certainly have responded: "Not very well." There is growing frustration south of the border about the lack of progress on US-Mexican ­relations since Mr Bush took office at the beginning of 2001. A recent poll conducted by the BBC showed that most Mexicans consider US influence in the world to be negative.
(snip)

If Washington thinks that offers on the two issues will prove sufficient to persuade Mr Calderón to take on the role of trying to contain Mr Chávez in the region, it is likely to be severely disappointed.

Mr Calderón, indeed, ruled out any such idea in a recent interview. I am not interested in playing a role with Bush in that respect," he said.
(snip/...)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17599049/

[Lisa]

6. 'Hi. How are you?" -- he didn't even brag about speaking "Mexican" to them?

http://www.dubyaspeak.com/whatsinaname.phtml

Neither in French nor in English nor in Mexican.
-- Dubya's way of declining to answer reporters' questions at the Summit of the Americas, Québec City, Canada, Apr. 21, 2001

[OhioChick]

7. "The Decider" is in Mexico??

Hurry up and build that big-ass fence, NOW.