Fox Promotes Free-Trade Plan

Mexico’s president-elect, Vicente Fox, pledged to push for a free-trade zone from Mexico to Panama as part of a bid to stem illegal immigration from Central America. Kicking off a four-day tour of Central America in Guatemala City, Fox repeated arguments that he has made in talks with U.S. leaders: that economic opportunity and free trade are key to staunching the flow of immigrants north. Mexican and Guatemalan business owners, however, expressed concern that organized crime and illegal immigration may make it difficult to achieve the kind of free market both Fox and Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo have championed.