Davis' Trip to Mexico Will Seek to Mend Rifts

By DAVE LESHER and MARY BETH SHERIDAN

Jan. 31, 1999 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITERS

SACRAMENTO —

Gov. Gray Davis embarks this week on a self-described healing mission to Mexico, a powerful symbol of the new Democratic control in California.

The three-day trip reflects a campaign promise Davis made to aggressively address California’s strained relations with Mexico--as well as with the state’s politically emerging Latino community--which were damaged during Republican-backed debates over illegal immigration, bilingual education and affirmative action.

“There is a dual symbolism to this trip,” said Harley Shaiken, a specialist on U.S.-Mexico issues at UC Berkeley. “It is not only very important in terms of the [economic] relationship between Mexico and California, but it underscores the emergence of the Latino vote in California.”

Davis is scheduled to meet Tuesday with President Ernesto Zedillo in an event expected to draw national headlines in Mexico as the start of a new and important chapter in bilateral relations.

Mexico is California’s second-largest trading partner and is rapidly approaching the No. 1 spot held by Japan. In the first three quarters of last year, California’s exports to Mexico jumped 15%, while commerce with Japan, struggling with a sputtering economy, dropped about 15%.

At the same time, California is home to Mexico’s largest emigrant community. The state’s population of about 10 million Latinos is so large that many expect the next campaign for president of Mexico, in 2000, to be waged partly in Los Angeles.

“We are very pleased there is a new attitude on the part of the governor,” a senior Mexican government official said this week. “It’s really a 180-degree change in the way we face problems.”

Relations between Mexico City and Sacramento have been severely strained since 1994, when former Gov. Pete Wilson coupled his reelection campaign with a controversial ballot measure--Proposition 187--that sought to end most public benefits for illegal immigrants.

California continued to pursue business opportunities with Mexico, as reflected in the soaring trade numbers during recent years. The state operates its largest foreign trade office in Mexico City, with about a dozen staff members. Cabinet officials also maintain contact with their counterparts in Mexico, and they have conducted joint trade missions to Europe and Asia.

But at the top levels, the public relationship was so poisoned that Wilson became a national symbol in Mexico of ugly American nativism. Wilson, who also made a trade trip to Mexico City in the second year of his tenure as governor, was pilloried in newspaper cartoons and condemned on the floor of the Mexican Congress.

Governor Promised a Different Course

Mexican television gave prominent coverage to California’s divisive political campaigns involving Latino issues, to a disturbing videotape of Riverside County sheriff’s deputies beating fleeing immigrants in 1996 and to a crash that killed eight people during a high-speed pursuit by the U.S. Border Patrol.

Wilson insisted that he was the victim of a small but vocal opposition that distorted his position on illegal immigration. But the governor did little to change the negative impressions, and he reinforced the animosity by avoiding fence-mending opportunities, such as failing to appear at an annual meeting of border state governors.

Early last year, Davis promised a dramatically different course when he led a Democratic delegation to Mexico City as he was campaigning for governor.

Davis called for renewal of a joint governmental authority between California and Mexico’s nearest states in Baja California. He also promoted more student exchanges.

The longshot Democratic candidate left a lasting and hopeful impression on the president of Mexico. Zedillo called Davis on election night to congratulate him on his victory and said he looked forward to a new relationship.

Two months later, Davis declared in his inaugural address: “I will treat the only foreign country with which we share a border with the respect and courtesy a peace-loving, sovereign nation deserves. And I will shortly be going to Mexico City . . . to enhance cultural, academic and economic ties with our most important neighbor.”

Davis is scheduled to arrive in Mexico City on Monday with a delegation of at least 21 dignitaries from his Cabinet, the Legislature, unions, California corporations and the leaders of California’s three public higher education systems.

Along with Davis, the delegation will be led by the state’s two ranking Latino officeholders--Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante and Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles).

The emphasis Davis has placed on education during his first weeks as governor also will be a focus of the trip. The governor is hoping one outcome will be an expansion of existing student and academic exchanges.

In addition to conferring privately with Zedillo on Tuesday morning, Davis will meet with the Mexican secretary of education, Miguel Limon Rojas.

On his way back to Sacramento on Wednesday, Davis will stop in Monterrey, about 400 miles north of Mexico City, to visit the country’s leading technology institute.

Although education will be emphasized, the primary mission of Davis’ trip is to demonstrate the high priority he places on California’s relations with Mexico and on the state’s Latino community, administration officials said.

Even a symbolic improvement in Mexico’s relations with California has broad implications, they added.

“The fact that in the last few years Mexico’s relationship with California has been [mired in conflict] . . . has [had] an impact on the entire bilateral relationship” between Mexico and the United States, the senior Mexican government official said. “The nature of the relationship with the California governor has always been key. It has a spillover effect.”

There is some immediate benefit for Mexico too.

The Mexican government is frequently criticized by its opposition for not doing enough to defend the rights of Mexicans abroad. A positive relationship with California would enhance the idea that the Mexican government is helping protect its citizens in the U.S.

Latinos Coming of Age Politically

Also, the Mexican Congress is considering a plan that would allow Mexican citizens in the United States to vote in the 2000 presidential election. If that happens, the campaign for president of Mexico will probably be waged partly on California soil.

For California, there are high stakes as well.

Experts debate about whether trade might improve even more with better political relations. Some improvement can be expected with any increase in cross-border contact between business and political leaders, they say. But they add that many business opportunities are pursued regardless of the political climate.

“What I hear among businessmen is that [business] has been completely separate from the political environment,” said Enrique Quintana, a prominent economic columnist in Mexico. “My perception is it [has] had very little impact on business between Mexico and California.”

Latino leaders say the next chapter of California’s relations with Mexico could have major implications for an increasingly multicultural state.

Many describe last year’s election as a political watershed for Latino participation in California. All of the major candidates devoted unprecedented attention to Latino voters. And Lt. Gov. Bustamante won the highest office held by a Latino in more than a century.

Expanding and improving relations with Mexico is a natural next step, said Raul Hinojosa, director of the North American Immigration and Development Center at UCLA.

“There is a definite feeling . . . that the Latino community is coming of age politically,” he said. “In a very short time it is being thrust in a role of immense responsibility and leadership, way beyond a sense of minority politics.”

At the same time, Hinojosa said, the new role offers a promising opportunity to demonstrate the economic benefits of a multicultural population.

“The question,” he said, “is going to be: Can we use this new multicultural politics in California as a way of relating to the rest of the world in a new way?”

Lesher reported from Sacramento, Sheridan from Mexico City.

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California-Mexico Ties

Gov. Gray Davis is heading to Mexico this week on a mission that will high-light the state’s economic and cultural ties with that country. California exports to Mexico have soared in recent years and the state’s Latino population is projected to continue its dramatic growth.

California Trade With Mexico

1997: $12.1 billion

1996: $9.1 billion

1995: $7.4 billion

1994: $7.7 billion

1993: $6.5 billion

1992: $6.5 billion

1991: $5.5 billion

Top 5 California Trading Partners (1997)

Japan: $17.5 billion

Mexico: $12.1 billion

Canada: $11.4 billion