A Big Job Awaits Ambassador

The U.S. Embassy in Mexico City has been leaderless for more than a year now. In that time, relations between the two countries have deteriorated to an abysmal level. That might have been prevented had Washington installed a first-class ambassador, one who could work through bilateral problems and tone down political rhetoric.

Now, at long last, the Senate has confirmed the Clinton administration’s choice for the post, Jeffrey Davidow, undersecretary of State for inter-American affairs. The vote was taken Friday.

The road ahead for Davidow is peppered with political land mines, but clearly he’s qualified for the job. A former ambassador to Venezuela, he has also worked in Guatemala and Chile. Davidow structured President Clinton’s visit to Mexico last year and knows the country well. He seems perfectly suited to heal the wounds created by the now notorious U.S. money-laundering sting called Operation Casablanca, which has increased the bad blood between the two countries.

There is no shortage of fuel for the discord between the United States and Mexico. Mexican officials are fuming over a statement by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright that implied the Mexican government should do more to resolve the political impasse over the embattled state of Chiapas; the Mexicans fail to see why Washington should be giving it advice on an internal affair. Earlier, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) gave Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo a lecture by letter on how to deal with Mexico’s problems with narcotics chieftains. One wonders what will come next.

Surely it will make things easier for Davidow if he can get some help from the Mexicans. The handling of the Operation Casablanca aftermath by Mexico’s secretary of foreign affairs, Rosario Green, has provoked more tension, and her call for the extradition of the U.S. agents involved is legally dubious and certainly premature.

Both Washington and Mexico City must realize that neither of their neighboring nations can escape geographical reality and that both should vigorously act to repair bilateral relations. For America, Jeffrey Davidow could be a key tool in that crucial task.