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From: C-upi@clari.net (UPI)
Newsgroups: clari.world.americas.mexico
Subject: Amid cheers, Clinton meets Zedillo
Keywords: US government, US federal, international, non-usa government,
	us border areas, economy, non-usa economy
Organization: Copyright 1999 by United Press International (via ClariNet)
Message-ID: <Umexico-usUR8EZ_9FF@clari.net>
Lines: 72
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 1:52:23 PST
Location: Latin America, Mexico
ACategory: international
Slugword: mexico-us
Threadword: mexico
Priority: regular
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Note: (UPI Focus)
Xref: news.cs.columbia.edu clari.world.americas.mexico:11727

  	  				 
	MERIDA, Mexico, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- President Clinton, welcomed warmly to  
the Yucatan Peninsula by thousands of flag-waving Mexicans, planned 
today to join President Ernesto Zedillo in top-level consultations 
focusing on trade and narcotics. 
	In the latest in a planned semiannual series of U.S.-Mexico summits,  
Clinton and Zedillo were set to cover a broad range of matters in cross- 
border relations while several Cabinet-level U.S. officials and some two 
dozen members of Congress do much the same with their Mexican 
counterparts. 
	Among his new tools to help the Mexican economy, Clinton was expected  
to announce a $4 billion line of credit from the Export-Import Bank to 
help Mexican businesses purchase U.S. goods and services. 
	And in what has become a regular feature of Clinton's visits  
overseas, the administration planned to approve a civil aviation free- 
trade agreement worth hundreds of millions of dollars to U.S. and 
Mexican airlines. 
	Additional agreements were expected to help Mexico reduce deaths  
among its migrant workers, provide it $1.2 million to prevent outdoor 
fires, train its new federal police force, battle tuberculosis, and help 
countries in Central American recover from Hurricane Mitch. 
	Talks also were expected to cover cross-border cooperation against  
trafficking in human beings, coordinated action against global warming, 
improved wastewater treatment in border communities, better warnings for 
U.S. citizens of Mexican gun laws, and better protections for endangered 
species, particularly dolphins. 
	The two presidents also were expected to discuss Clinton's upcoming  
decision March 1 on whether to add Mexico this year to the small list of 
countries deemed to be not cooperating in the fight against drugs. 
	In a predictable repeat of the debate over recent years, Clinton is  
likely to renew his certification of Mexico's drug-fighting efforts, and 
face criticisms from lawmakers who disagree and from Mexicans offended 
by the process. 
	Zedillo planned to host Clinton for their talks at a hacienda outside  
Merida owned by Roberto Hernandez, a banker who during Mexico's last 
presidential race catered a fund-raiser at which Mexican billionaires 
each were asked to contribute $25 million to Zedillo's governing party. 
	The president and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in an  
apparently upbeat mood Sunday from Washington, where Clinton on Friday 
was acquitted in his Senate impeachment trial following more than a year 
of efforts by his Republican opponents to punish him for his handling of 
an extramarital affair. 
	After receiving a red-carpet welcome from Zedillo upon his arrival  
early Sunday evening in Merida, he was treated along his motorcade route 
to thousands of cheering Mexicans waving U.S. and Mexican flags and 
holding up pre-printed placards depicting Clinton standing alongside 
Zedillo. 
	On the flight down, the first couple cut a rare picture of happy  
togetherness, walking in tandem throughout the presidential jet handing 
out Valentine's Day wishes and chocolates from a large heart-shaped box. 
	The Clintons traveled first to a reception for their entire  
delegation in downtown Merida, then joined Zedillo and his wife Nilda 
for a private dinner. 
	The White House originally planned the visit as part of a larger trip  
that included stops in Central America, but postponed all but the Mexico 
portion until next month to allow Clinton to remain in Washington during 
the conclusion of the impeachment trial. 
	The abbreviated schedule, which concludes this evening with Clinton's  
return to Washington, left little time for touring Merida's tree-lined 
boulevards and spectacular colonial mansions, and no time to get out of 
town to see the nearby Mayan ruins of Uxmal and Chichen-Itza. 
	The U.S. government also asked the Mexicans to cancel a joint news  
conference with Zedillo, which until the impeachment threat had for 
Clinton been a regular part of his meetings with foreign heads of state. 
	The advisers scheduled to accompany Clinton include Secretary of  
State Madeleine Albright, who was headed to Mexico from peace talks in 
France aimed at ending the fighting in the Serbian province of Kosovo. 
	Others Cabinet-level advisers on the trip include Attorney General  
Janet Reno, Energy Secretary William Richardson and drug czar Barry 
McCaffrey. 
  	   	

