JUAREZ, Mexico (By Hugh Dellios, Chicago
Tribune) March 27, 2006 — The leftist who wants to be Mexico's next
president is a big baseball fan. When he was a young man, his friends
called him "Americano" because he dressed in the latest U.S. styles.
But Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's journey to this border city last week to spell out his vision of Mexico's role in the world - on the 200th birthday of Mexico's nationalist hero, Benito Juarez - signaled that he will not be continuing President Vicente Fox's attempts to create a cozy friendship with the United States.
At the same time, he tried to make it clear that he is no Hugo Chavez, the firebrand Venezuelan president who has been a thorn in Washington's side.
Lopez Obrador, the front-runner to win July's presidential election to succeed Fox, lashed out at proposals in the U.S. Congress to extend fences along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border. And he began his speech Tuesday by extolling Juarez's resistance to a 19th-century French invasion with patriotic rhetoric that the Latin American left these days usually reserves for talk about resisting the United States.
But the former Mexico City mayor insisted that Mexico's relationship with the United States would be one of "mutual respect and collaboration." And he said his focus would be on putting Mexico's own house in order, mostly by creating jobs, so it would be better positioned to negotiate immigration matters with the United States.
"We are going to convince the U.S. authorities that the best policy, between a strong economy and a weak one, is not the construction of walls but cooperation for the development of Mexico," Lopez Obrador said.
The ex-mayor said he will return Mexico to a more traditional, less-active foreign policy. That would contrast starkly with Fox, who traveled widely, made an immigration accord with the United States one of his top priorities and entered Mexico into more dealings with the United Nations and international human rights organizations.
Lopez Obrador said he would seldom travel abroad. He has mocked what he calls Fox's "political tourism" to China and elsewhere. His aides say he would be host to fewer international forums and regional summits.
The Lopez Obrador campaign has tried hard to tamp down opponents' attempts to liken him to Chavez. The latest surfaced last week when Felipe Calderon, the candidate from Fox's National Action Party, ran a television ad highlighting how Lopez Obrador told Fox to shut up in a speech last week, followed by Chavez warning Fox not to mess with him last year.
Lopez Obrador is a frequent critic of neoliberal and free-trade economic policies supported by Washington and says he plans to shift Mexico away from them. But his aides say he has no intention of following Chavez's example in constantly bashing Washington and President Bush.
U.S. officials have said they will work with whomever Mexican voters elect in July. But analysts say there are any number of issues that could create irritants or clashes between the United States and a President Lopez Obrador.
In his foreign-policy speech Tuesday, Lopez Obrador spent the largest portion of his time reiterating his support for Mexico's long-standing non-intervention and pacifist policies. It was those policies Fox cited in opposing the Iraq war, which badly damaged prospects for the friendship he tried to create with Bush.
He also proposed using Mexico's 45 consulates in the United States as "prosecutorial" offices to "protect our countrymen from mistreatment, discrimination and the violation of their human rights."
Lopez Obrador talks about reopening chapters of the North American Free Trade Agreement that have hurt Mexican corn and bean farmers. And some question how he would have handled the U.S. Treasury Department's recent pressuring of a Mexico City hotel to expel 16 Cubans meeting with U.S. oil executives.
But Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's journey to this border city last week to spell out his vision of Mexico's role in the world - on the 200th birthday of Mexico's nationalist hero, Benito Juarez - signaled that he will not be continuing President Vicente Fox's attempts to create a cozy friendship with the United States.
At the same time, he tried to make it clear that he is no Hugo Chavez, the firebrand Venezuelan president who has been a thorn in Washington's side.
Lopez Obrador, the front-runner to win July's presidential election to succeed Fox, lashed out at proposals in the U.S. Congress to extend fences along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border. And he began his speech Tuesday by extolling Juarez's resistance to a 19th-century French invasion with patriotic rhetoric that the Latin American left these days usually reserves for talk about resisting the United States.
But the former Mexico City mayor insisted that Mexico's relationship with the United States would be one of "mutual respect and collaboration." And he said his focus would be on putting Mexico's own house in order, mostly by creating jobs, so it would be better positioned to negotiate immigration matters with the United States.
"We are going to convince the U.S. authorities that the best policy, between a strong economy and a weak one, is not the construction of walls but cooperation for the development of Mexico," Lopez Obrador said.
The ex-mayor said he will return Mexico to a more traditional, less-active foreign policy. That would contrast starkly with Fox, who traveled widely, made an immigration accord with the United States one of his top priorities and entered Mexico into more dealings with the United Nations and international human rights organizations.
Lopez Obrador said he would seldom travel abroad. He has mocked what he calls Fox's "political tourism" to China and elsewhere. His aides say he would be host to fewer international forums and regional summits.
The Lopez Obrador campaign has tried hard to tamp down opponents' attempts to liken him to Chavez. The latest surfaced last week when Felipe Calderon, the candidate from Fox's National Action Party, ran a television ad highlighting how Lopez Obrador told Fox to shut up in a speech last week, followed by Chavez warning Fox not to mess with him last year.
Lopez Obrador is a frequent critic of neoliberal and free-trade economic policies supported by Washington and says he plans to shift Mexico away from them. But his aides say he has no intention of following Chavez's example in constantly bashing Washington and President Bush.
U.S. officials have said they will work with whomever Mexican voters elect in July. But analysts say there are any number of issues that could create irritants or clashes between the United States and a President Lopez Obrador.
In his foreign-policy speech Tuesday, Lopez Obrador spent the largest portion of his time reiterating his support for Mexico's long-standing non-intervention and pacifist policies. It was those policies Fox cited in opposing the Iraq war, which badly damaged prospects for the friendship he tried to create with Bush.
He also proposed using Mexico's 45 consulates in the United States as "prosecutorial" offices to "protect our countrymen from mistreatment, discrimination and the violation of their human rights."
Lopez Obrador talks about reopening chapters of the North American Free Trade Agreement that have hurt Mexican corn and bean farmers. And some question how he would have handled the U.S. Treasury Department's recent pressuring of a Mexico City hotel to expel 16 Cubans meeting with U.S. oil executives.
