Fox: Mexico Doesn't Fear U.S. Reprisal

From The Guardian:

Wednesday March 5, 2003 3:20 AM

MEXICO CITY (AP) - President Vicente Fox said Tuesday Mexico isn't worried abut the United States' reprisal if it doesn't back a resolution supporting war with Iraq, and said Mexico would not accept any unilateral U.S. action to disarm Iraq.

Also Tuesday, officials confirmed that Mexico's foreign secretary had tried to revive a Canadian compromise proposal on the conflict in a Saturday meeting with Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Mexico, a member of the U.N. Security Council, is one of several nations that has declined to say how it would vote on a U.S.-backed resolution paving the way for war with Iraq.

Mexicans largely oppose military action against Iraq, and Fox doesn't want to offend voters before crucial congressional elections this summer. Some Mexicans, however, fear a vote against their powerful northern neighbor would anger the United States, the destination for more than 85 percent of Mexican exports.

Recent statements by Fox stressing the need to disarm Saddam Hussein appeared to indicate Mexico was edging closer to the U.S. position.

But on Tuesday Fox told a meeting of businessmen in the central state of Aguascalientes: "We are not going to accept any unilateral decisions."

"We say 'No war, yes to peace,'" Fox told the crowd. "Imagine what kind of world we would have if everybody took unilateral decisions about starting a war."

Continued.

Fox also said Mexico shouldn't fear retaliation from the United States if it stuck to its pro-peace stance.

"We are in an almost daily dialogue, they know our position and we're convinced there won't be any reprisals."

British officials met with their Mexican counterparts Friday and Saturday in Mexico in a bid to sway undecided Security Council nations.

Powell and Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez spoke by telephone on Monday and met Saturday at Powell's home in the Virginia suburbs, Foreign Relations Department spokesman Allan Nahum said.

Nahum said Derbez asked Powell about a compromise plan of the type proposed by Canada - a sign that Mexico is looking for a way to please both sides. The Canadian proposal would set a series of benchmarks Iraq would have to meet by the end of the month.

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2003

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-2454332,00.html

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