Lawmakers Reject Zedillo’s Request for 2 Trips Abroad
In an unprecedented show of strength, Mexican lawmakers on Wednesday rejected a routine request from President Ernesto Zedillo to attend a summit in Canada.
The opposition majority in the lower house of Congress, the Chamber of Deputies, told Zedillo he had failed to provide sufficient justification to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vancouver, Canada, on Nov. 22-25 and asked him to resubmit the request with more information. The lower house also barred Zedillo from a planned Dec. 18-19 state visit to Nicaragua for the same reason. Both requests were rejected by a vote of 232 to 216.
The lower house cleared Zedillo by a 442-6 vote to attend the upcoming weekend Iberoamerican summit in Venezuela and to travel to the United States Nov. 13-14 for a meeting with President Clinton.
The Senate had earlier approved all four of Zedillo’s trips.
Mexico’s Constitution requires the president to seek authorization from Congress for his foreign trips.
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