Hahn Makes Bid to Build L.A.’s Ties to Mexico

Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn joined Mexican President Vicente Fox on Monday at the president’s home, where the two leaders met for the first time to begin forging a practical working relationship beyond formal diplomatic contacts between Washington and Mexico City.

The 30-minute meeting, along with the rest of Hahn’s two-day trade trip, highlighted the growing ties between California and Mexico. The mayor’s welcome also was made warmer by the role Hahn played in quietly pushing state legislation that would assist Mexican immigrants.

Hahn’s two-day visit to Mexico City--his first foreign trade mission and the first official visit of a Los Angeles mayor to Mexico in almost a decade--ratcheted up the public profile of the new mayor, who has been criticized for what some see as a meandering start to his administration.

During their meeting, in Fox’s airy office on the second floor of his home, the two leaders discussed not just the issues between their governments but also reaffirmed Mexico’s interwoven history with that of Los Angeles, which was once governed by Mexico.

“Our city is a Mexican city, and Mexican Americans have greatly shaped our cultural, political and commercial landscape,” Hahn said at the news conference, which Fox did not attend. “Our city and this country are bound together in many ways.”

Those themes are important for both leaders.

Hahn has been reaching out to the city’s Latino communities to patch up relations from his rough mayoral campaign, which saw him handily defeat Antonio Villaraigosa in the former Assembly speaker’s attempt to become Los Angeles’ first Latino mayor of modern times.

Fox, meanwhile, is attempting to rebuild his country’s relationship with its northern neighbor and remake Mexico’s international role. Fox actively campaigned for his presidency in California, vowing to be the leader of all Mexicans, including those living abroad, and has visited the state twice since being elected.

His administration’s desire for strong ties with California was evident Monday as the Los Angeles mayor was treated as a major foreign dignitary. Besides meeting with the president--something officials said was a rare honor for an American mayor--Hahn was escorted around Mexico’s populous capital in a heavily protected motorcade for back-to-back meetings with top government officials and business leaders. Along the way, he was accompanied by Marta Lara, the Mexican consul general to Los Angeles; Jeffrey Davidow, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico; and Los Angeles City Councilmen Alex Padilla and Eric Garcetti, along with other city officials and labor and business leaders.

“For Vicente Fox, the relationship between Mexico and the United States is pivotal, and nowhere is that more important than in Los Angeles, given the size and the continual growth of the Mexican American population,” said Harley Shaiken, a professor specializing in global economy at UC Berkeley’s Latin American studies center. “For the mayor of Los Angeles to go to Mexico and be feted as if it was a state visit I think shows the closeness of the relationship and the importance of the way it continues to evolve.”

On Monday, Hahn and Fox resolved to increase trade between Southern California and Mexico and to ensure that beefed-up security measures put in place after the terrorist attacks do not hamper a flow of goods across the border, which Hahn called “a lifeline between the two countries.”

Mexico is second only to China as Los Angeles’ largest trading partner. California exported $19-billion worth of goods to the country last year.

“Obviously, we think Mexico is our best customer,” Hahn said during a news conference at Los Pinos, the president’s residence, after the meeting with Fox. “And we are Mexico’s best customer.”

Hahn told the president that he plans to create a city office of international business development with the primary purpose of increasing trade and economic opportunities between the two countries.

Hahn’s warm reception also signaled the unique relationship developing between local Mexican and American officials who seek to have their own channel of communication. On Monday, Hahn and Mexico City Mayor Andrez Lopez Obrador signed agreements reaffirming the 30-year-old Sister City relationship between the two metropolises, Mexico’s largest and America’s second-largest.

The open-armed embrace of Hahn by Mexican officials offered a striking counterpoint to Fox’s delicate diplomacy after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, when he attempted to endorse the U.S. anti-terrorism campaign without exacerbating historic Mexican ambivalence about aligning with the U.S. security agenda.

Because of that, some political analysts said, the Fox administration may be relieved to focus on its relationship with a California leader, which revolves mostly around quality-of-life issues affecting Mexican nationals abroad.

“This allows him to cultivate a relationship with the United States without incurring any of the political flak,” said Peter H. Smith, professor of Latin American studies at UC San Diego.

For his part, Hahn has used his trip to Mexico so far to emphasize that he and other California leaders welcome Mexican immigrants--something that has not always been the case. The passage of Proposition 187 in 1994, which cut health and education benefits to immigrants, inflamed relations between officials in Mexico and California.

“We certainly don’t want to only be remembered for [Proposition] 187,” Hahn said in a brief interview between meetings. “I think the message is we’re looking for more opportunities to strengthen friendships.”

The mayor told Mexican officials that he wants to be a strong advocate for immigrant rights in California, an issue he has not raised much at home in Los Angeles. He told Fox that he called Gov. Gray Davis several times in recent months to urge him to support two bills that would assist Mexicans living in the state. One will allow children of immigrants to pay state tuition to attend California colleges, and another would permit immigrants applying for legal status to receive driver’s licenses.

Although his aides did not publicize Hahn’s support for that legislation in Los Angeles, the mayor’s backing for the new laws was well-known among many top Mexican officials, who welcomed it as a sign that Mexican immigrants have a friend in the mayor’s office.

“The city of L.A. can become a city that sends an important signal to other American cities in its experiences in Mexican-American relations,” said Under Secretary of Foreign Relations Enrique Berruga.

The trip to Mexico City also offered Hahn an opportunity to appeal to the more than 1 million Mexican American citizens who live in Los Angeles--the overwhelming majority of whom backed his opponent during the June election. At the news conference, which was taped by a local Univision crew, Hahn recited several carefully pronounced sentences in Spanish. And he voiced his support for an amnesty program for guest workers and undocumented immigrants, an issue that has been shelved by federal officials since Sept. 11. The mayor also tried to achieve some concrete new economic agreements during his visit.

Also Monday, Hahn met for lunch with about 150 top business leaders at the prestigious Industrial Club and told them that increased trade between Mexico and Los Angeles will boost both economies. He discussed several new initiatives with Secretary of Energy Ernesto Martens, including increasing American coal shipments to Mexico through the Port of Los Angeles and collaborating on boosting electricity transmission capability between the two countries.

Hahn and other city officials also signed a memorandum of understanding with Mexican port officials, committing to promoting cargo trade between the ports instead of relying on rail.

*

Times staff writer James F. Smith contributed to this report.