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BUSINESS
Media & Communications
• Radio Frequencies Modified to Solve Problem with U.S
• Plan for New Spanish Daily
• Satmex Carries Hispanic Signal into the U.S. Market
• Telmex Raises Bid For MCI's Embratel To $400 Million


Trade:
Agricultural
• Mexico Lifts More Restrictions on Poultry


Trade
• Latin America Warms Up to EU in Trade Talks
• Mexico Asks to Join South American Bloc
• Argentina Invites Mexico to the Mercosur’s Next Summit
• Mexico Worries About Growing Number of U.S. Trade Treaties
• Lack of Information Hinders Mexican Exports
• Mexico Looses 3 Billion Dollars in Tariffs
• Canales Reviews Commercial Progress with the U.S.
• Top Trade Officials Defend NAFTA
• Supreme Court to Review U.S.-Mexican Trucking Issue


Investment
• Greater Capital Influx Foreseen for 2004
• The State of Mexico Seeks to Reduce its Dependence on the U.S.




Immigrants & Border

• Michoacan’s Governor Cardenas Batel Seeks Investments in the U.S. Along With Respect for Migrants Rights
• The State of Mexico Seeks to Attract Capital from Migrants
• Overcoming the “Border Concept”
• Immigration Institute Seeking a New Image
• Rain Helps Mexico Reduce Water Debt




Politics

• Fox Calls for Joint International Efforts to Fight Poverty
• Mexico to Lobby U.S. on Migration Reform
• Morelos State Attorney General Resigns
• Governor Estrada’s “Strong Man” Resigns
• Latin America Losing Faith in Democracy
• Errors in Addressing the U.S.-Mexico Relationship: Davidow




Other

• Mexico Arrests Reputed Chief Drug Runner

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Mexican authorities complied with U.S. demands regarding radio interference caused by three Mexican broadcasters with California transmitters. However, interference caused by 473 U.S. broadcasters, affecting Mexican transmitters by violating bilateral agreements was left “on hold and pending”. In a related note (El Financiero, April 20th), the Mexican Government has demanded that 473 AM radio stations from the U.S. causing interference with Mexican transmitters be subject to adjustments and compliance under the U.S.-Mexican treaty regulating the industry at the border.

A company controlled by Pearson P.L.C. plans to invest US$16.5 million this year to start a newspaper in the United States for Spanish speaking people.

The newspaper, called Rumbo, will start in the second half of 2004, according to the company, Recoletos Grupo de Comunicación, based in Madrid. The company has acquired Meximerica Media Inc., which will publish the daily, it said.

Recoletos has said it wants to expand abroad after efforts to strengthen its position in Spain failed. The company ended last year with 196 million euros ($234 million) in cash. The new paper will focus on people from Mexico living in the United States, a market of 26 million people, it said.

Satelites Mexicanos (Satmex) will begin delivering TV programming to the United States, due to an initiative to market TV Channels 11 and 22 internationally. This represents a new income opportunity for Satmex, following their numerous troubles while requesting modifications to Mexico’s open sky policy. The U.S. has experienced significant demand growth for Latin American programming that is yet to be met.

Mexico City - Mexican phone carrier Telefonos de Mexico SA said it has raised its offer for Brazilian long-distance company Embratel Participacoes SA to $400 million from $360 million. The company said that the board of U.S. carrier MCI -- which controls Embratel -- has already approved the higher offer.

Telmex, as the Mexican carrier is known, has also promised to advance $50 million on the deal, which MCI can keep in case regulators knock down the deal. The new Telmex offer comes amid a counter-bid from a group of Brazilian phone companies, which offered to pay MCI $396 million for Embratel and an additional $154 million if Brazilian regulators bless the deal.

As of today, Mexico will lift its ban on the imports of poultry products and by-products, from North Carolina, Maine, Virginia and West Virginia, following its certification of the eradication of avian influenza, according to the Ministry of Agriculture (SAGARPA). Limitations on poultry products imports remain for California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Texas.

Even as free-trade talks chill between the U.S. and Latin America, a trade bloc led by Brazil appears to be warming up to a deal with the European Union in a shift that could pose challenges to U.S. companies in the global race for markets.

Officials negotiating a trade pact between the EU and Mercosur say they plan to exchange their latest offers as soon as Friday. They are optimistic that they will have an agreement, in principle, in time for an EU-Latin summit meeting scheduled for late May in Guadalajara, Mexico. The official deadline for a deal is October.

Mexico is asking to join South America's Mercosur trade bloc, said Luis Ernesto Derbez, Mexico's Foreign Minister.

Mercosur members are Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, with Chile, Peru and Bolivia as associate members.

The announcement comes as Latin American leaders try to bolster Mercosur to present a united front in largely stalled talks on the Free Trade Area of the Americas, the 2005 launch of which President Bush's policy is top priority in the region.

According to Derbez, the summit will allow President Fox to formally request Mexico’s admittance to the organization and begin the necessary negotiations.

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Experts cautioned that Free Trade Agreements the United States has recently signed (or is about to sign) with 22 countries would limit the advantages that Mexico still holds on that market, mainly in the textile and maquiladora sectors.

After nearly two decades with the U.S. signing treaties just with 4 countries (Israel, Canada, Jordan and Mexico), during the last 16 months, treaties have been reached with Chile and Singapore, while negotiations with Australia, Morocco and Central America (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Dominican Republic) are awaiting U.S. Congress approval. Current negotiations are underway with South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, Swaziland and Bahrain and negotiations will shortly begin with Thailand, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Panama.

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Referring to the U.S. Sanitary Alert IA-33-10 relating to the lead found in some Mexican candy products, Moises Zavaleta Lopez, Director of Basic Industries from the Secretariat of Economy, indicated that lack of information is one of the barriers being faced by Mexican exporters who want to sell their products in the United States, given that they are unaware of applicable regulations. He also warned that non-compliance of a single or few products can damage and adversely affect the image of many other brands or products, just on the basis of being similar.

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During the 10 years of NAFTA, Mexico has lost US$2.98 billion in non-collected tariffs due to excess quota imports of U.S. corn, bean and barley, according to the House of Representatives. The quotas were exceeded, but the tariffs were not charged due to Mexico’s supply problem, a scenario not considered in NAFTA.

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Fernando Canales Clariond and Donald Evans, in charge of Economic policy for Mexico and the United States, respectively, analyzed progress of the bilateral commercial agenda in Washington, particularly issues regarding patents, steel, textiles and bio-terrorism.

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American textile and apparel companies have not lost jobs because of NAFTA, but rather because they failed to take advantage of the trade pact with Mexico and Canada, a senior U.S. trade official said yesterday.

U.S. fabric and clothing manufacturers have been under intense pressure the past decade, with several firms declaring bankruptcy and others scaling back production as foreign producers grab global market share. Through the past 3½ years, the U.S. textile and apparel sectors have contracted more than 320,000 jobs, nearly a third of its work force, according to industry figures.

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The Supreme Court today is set to delve into the recesses of environmental law and presidential prerogatives in a case that will determine whether Mexican trucks can soon begin hauling goods throughout the United States.

NAFTA called for U.S., Canadian and Mexican trucks to be allowed to ply each other's highways in different stages through the 1990s, but a combination of union pressure, safety concerns and political considerations have kept Mexican trucks out of all but a narrow band of American territory along the U.S. border.

President Bush in November 2002 moved to lift the ban but was blocked when Public Citizen, the Teamsters and other groups filed a lawsuit stating that the move violated U.S. environmental laws.

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According to the Institute of International Finance (IIF), better interest rates, economic recovery and greater liquidity, will allow for a US$100 billion increase in private capital flows towards emergent markets compared with 2003, totaling approximately US$225 billion in 2004.

According to a study on capital flows in emergent markets, Latin America will be one of the most benefited, given that the region obtained $25 billion US investments in 2003 while this year the sum might reach $32 billions US.

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During a meeting with executives from the Nestle Company, Arturo Montiel, Governor to the Sate of Mexico, indicated that Mexico must take full advantage of trade relationships worldwide, particularly with the EU, in order to “fully promote economic growth currently required by Mexico". Montiel indicated that the State averages $US100 million in direct foreign investment monthly.

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Lazaro Cardenas Batel, Governor to the State of Michoacan, was in the U.S. on a week long tour seeking investment for his State as well as embracing a passionate defense of migrant workers human rights, and their right to vote in Mexico's presidential elections in 2006. There are about 2'500,000 citizens of Michoacan living in the U.S, whose remittances amounted to US$1,600 million in 2003.

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In order to take advantage of remittances sent to the State of Mexico and transform its citizens living in the US into Mexican micro-entrepreneurs, the State Government initiated several productive projects with Federal, State and Municipal governments contributing up to 50% of the investment required by immigrants to start new businesses. There are about 250,000 citizens from the State of Mexico in the U.S., especially in Los Angeles, Houston, New York and San Diego, whose remittances amounted to US$900 million in 2003.

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Joseph S. Tulchin, Director of the Latin American Program at the Woodrow Wilson Institute Center, indicated there is a need for Social and Political leaders in Mexico and the U.S. that can help overcome the Border Concept, in order to leave behind its “division” connotation and translate it into a “Point of Encounter” promoting the integration between the two nations. In order to achieve this, Tulchin recognized a need for strong investments and the establishment of clear rules regarding the relationship between citizens and government, “particularly in the case of Mexico”.

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Today the National Immigration Institute is in the midst of an “Institutional Cleansing Process” following the recent scandals involving smuggling of people into the U.S.

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Texas – A single week of April rains significantly reduced Mexico's Rio Grande water debt to the U.S. Rain from the week ending April 10 brought at least 143,000 acre feet of water into the two-shared reservoirs along the Rio Grande, officials said Tuesday. About one-third of that water went to Mexico's debt, bringing it to about 920,000 acre-feet.

An acre-foot is enough water to cover an acre of land with a foot of water.

Under a 1944 treaty, Mexico is required to release an average of 350,000 acre-feet a year to the United States from the Rio Grande. The U.S., in return, must send Mexico 1.5 million acre-feet from the Colorado River.

But due to an extended drought that began in the 1990s, Mexico began falling behind on payments, and many drought-stricken U.S. farmers blame Mexico for their plight. As of 2002, Mexico owed 1.5 million-acre feet.

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While inaugurating of the 110th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union yesterday, President Fox appealed to international solidarity in order to fight discrimination, terrorism, environmental deterioration and; especially, poverty. Otherwise, he warned, increasing poverty can turn into instability and new international conflicts.

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Mexico is joining forces with several other Latin American nations to lobby the U.S. Congress for migration reforms, Mexico's foreign secretary said Wednesday.

Ernesto Derbez, speaking to a gathering of economists in the central city of Pachuca, said Mexico wants to ensure a migration accord benefits not only Mexicans but all Latin Americans.

Derbez will be traveling to California later this week, in part to meet with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

California is one of several states that have been ordered by the International Court of Justice to review the cases of Mexicans on death row. So far, most states have shown little willingness to follow the ruling.

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Morelos Attorney General, Guillermo Tenorio Avila, resigned after being criticized by all social and political sectors, given the presumed involvement of his subordinates and State police officials with the Juarez drug cartel. The resignation occurred, following the State Assembly’s request to Governor Sergio Estrada Cajigal that he remove Tenorio Avila.

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Eduardo Becerrra Perez, Secretary of Government, considered Governor of Morelos, Sergio Estrada’s “Strong Man" resigned, due to the intense pressure and the current political crisis in the State.

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Frustrated by a lack of economic progress under the democratic regimes that rule them, a majority of Latin Americans would support an authoritarian government if it bettered their lives, according to a United Nations report released Wednesday.

The study by the United Nations Development Program also found that most government leaders in the region felt they were slowly losing the ability to shape policy in their own countries because of the increasing influence of the United States and international lending institutions.

The three-year study was based on a survey of 18,600 people and interviews with political leaders in 18 countries, including most of the current and former presidents.

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Jeffrey Davidow, former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, considered it a mistake for his country to have focused excessively on drugs in its relations with Mexico during the 90’s; whereas Vicente Fox is also making a mistake by focusing on immigration.

Davidow considered there is still time to change the course in diplomatic and commercial relationships between the two countries. He also criticized the course being followed by Mexico’s economy, stating that the signing of the commercial agreement lacked follow-up on Mexico’s part regarding economic policy strategy and efforts to increase its competitiveness.

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Mexico City - A Guatemalan man described by U.S. authorities as Central America's most-wanted drug smuggler was captured by Mexican agents at the capital's airport in an arrest officials here hailed as important for the hemisphere.

Otto Herrera, a 39-year-old Guatemalan trucking company boss, did not resist when federal authorities seized him at Mexico City's Juarez International Airport on Wednesday as he met a woman identified as his girlfriend who had arrived on a flight from Guadalajara, Attorney General Rafael Macedo de la Concha said.

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