One of our reader’s has offered his own suggestions about what should be expected from Mexico before Vincente Fox enjoys Bush’s expensivo gift: Why stop the list at extradition? There is an enormous

list of issues that we should be negotiating with the

Mexican government:

– the Mexican government should increase education funding

– English should be mandatory in Mexican schools

If Mexico is to supply a significant proportion of our

labor force these are reasonable demands.

– Spanish should be abandoned as the official national language

We have no official national language. Why should they?

Mexico has more non-Spanish-speaking citizens than we have

non-English-speaking residents.

– native populations should be granted equal rights

– foreigners should be able to own land (fee simple) anywhere

in Mexico

– environmental laws should be enforced and tightened

– border control should be improved on the Mexican side

These are basic human rights issues.

The list goes on. And we should raise the ante by discussing

restriction of remittances. But no. We give up the store

at the outset.