MEXICO: Mexican President Vicente Fox faced a tricky diplomatic dilemma yesterday as it appeared likely that his government may hold the casting vote in any upcoming UN Security Council resolution designed to authorise war against Iraq.
Mexico is one of 10 elected members to the UN Security Council and has vocally opposed the US drive towards war. The Bush administration needs all 10 votes to secure approval of a resolution on Iraq, assuming that none of the five permanent members opt to veto the measure themselves.
Spanish Prime Minister Mr José Maria Aznar visited Mexico this week where he was greeted cautiously by government officials who reminded him that Mexico still hopes to see the disarming of Saddam Hussein through containment rather than war.
"This was more of a mis-encounter than a meeting," said one Mexican official, who attended the Fox-Aznar summit on Thursday.
President Fox has been actively promoting an independent position in the UN and he welcomed peace protests which took place around the world last weekend. "It is extraordinary that people have demonstrated like this," he said, "this is the way to stop war." At least 20,000 people marched in Mexico City last week while hundreds more turned out to protest at Mr Aznar's latest visit.
One opposition governor, Mr José Murat, described the Spanish leader as "an imperialist messenger" who should be declared persona non grata during his trip.
Meanwhile, Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr Henry Kissinger, speaking yesterday to a group of business leaders in northern Mexico, warned that the Bush administration would be "very unhappy" if Mexico failed to rally behind US efforts to launch war on Iraq.
Mexico-US relations have been fraught with tension over the past year as President Bush rejected a deal to legalise migrant Mexican workers in the US, a key campaign pledge by President Fox. US officials described Mexico as "vulnerable" to diplomatic pressure due to its close commercial and political ties with the US, which receives 90 per cent of its exports.