NBC (New Update): Mexico Halts Border Maps Hand-Out

I love how the Mexican spokesman has learned from the Bushies .. the art of
not admitting the obvious .. I guess these idiots forgot to realize that the
Minutemen could get their hands on these maps as well .. can you say "Oh
***!!" ?



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060126/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/mexico_migrant_maps

Mexico Halts Border Maps Hand-Out
By MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press Writer

1 hour, 14 minutes ago

MEXICO CITY - Mexico will suspend its plan to distribute maps to migrants
wanting to cross the U.S. border illegally, but an official said Thursday
the decision was not made because of American pressure.

Miguel Angel Paredes, spokesman for the federal Human Rights Commission,
said the government wanted to "rethink" its plan because human rights
officials in border states expressed concern that the maps would show
anti-immigrant groups - like the Minutemen civilian patrols - where migrants
likely would gather.

"This would be practically like telling the Minutemen where the migrants are
going to be," Paredes said. "We are going to rethink this, so that we
wouldn't almost be handing them over to groups that attack migrants."

On Wednesday, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the
United States opposed the plan "in the strongest terms." He said the effort
would lead more people to cross the border, "leading to more migrant deaths
and the further enrichment of the criminal human trafficking rings."

Paredes was asked if the Mexican decision was a response to U.S. pressure.

"No, we are not responding to that," he said. "We have not taken that into
account."

The commission, a Mexican government-funded agency with independent powers,
originally said it would print and pay for at least 70,000 maps showing
highways, rescue beacons and water tanks in the Arizona desert.

The posters were to have been distributed in border towns and through human
rights offices in Mexico starting in March, when illegal border crossings
are usually high.

The commission denied the maps would encourage illegal immigration, saying
instead they would help guide those in trouble.

Now, the group will "seek other ways" to help migrants, Paredes said.

The map dispute follows a string of other diplomatic rows involving the
U.S.-Mexico border.

U.S. border states say they are fed up with illegal migration and drug
trafficking and are pressuring the U.S. government to boost protection,
including by extending a wall along the common frontier, something Mexico
bitterly resents.

Mexico is angry about U.S. civilian groups that have organized patrols along
the border and has accused them of attacking migrants.

However, there is little evidence of that and the groups seldom - if ever -
target water tanks or rescue beacons.

One of the most well-known groups, the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, placed
a link to the maps on its Web site but did not advocate using them to find
illegal migrants.

The posters were designed by the Tucson, Ariz.-based rights group Humane
Borders, which operates several desert water stations. The group previously
distributed about 100 posters in the Mexican border town of Sasabe.

Some of the posters have warnings, such as: "Don't go. There isn't enough
water."

However, officials conceded many migrants were unlikely to heed the advice.

___

On the Net:

http://www.humaneborders.org

http://www.minutemanproject.com


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