[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 90 (Thursday, July 13, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6691-S6692]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   SENATE RESOLUTION 335--CONGRATULATING THE PEOPLE OF MEXICO ON THE 
       OCCASION OF THE DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS HELD IN THAT COUNTRY

  Mr. HELMS (for himself, Mr. Lott, Mr. Biden, Mr. L. Chafee, Mr. Dodd, 
Mr. Lugar, Mr. Coverdell, Mr. Domenici, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Grassley, Mr. 
Bingaman, Mr. Gramm, Mr. McCain, Mr. Smith of New Hampshire, Mr. Craig, 
Mrs. Feinstein, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Feingold, Mrs. Hutchison, Mr. Ashcroft, 
Mr. Frist, Mr. Grams, Mr. DeWine, Mr. Kyl, and Mr. Brownback) submitted 
the following resolution; which was considered and agreed to:

                              S. Res. 335

       Whereas the United States and Mexico share a border of more 
     than 2,000 miles;
       Whereas Mexico is the second largest trade partner of the 
     United States, with a two-way trade of $174,000,000,000;
       Whereas United States companies have invested more than 
     $25,000,000,000 in Mexico from 1994-1999;
       Whereas more than 20,000,000 people now in the United 
     States are of Mexican descent, a fact that in and of itself 
     forges profound and permanent cultural ties between our 2 
     countries;
       Whereas the well-being and security of the United States 
     and Mexico require governments willing and able to cooperate 
     fully to confront common threats, including organized crime, 
     corruption, and trafficking in illicit narcotics;
       Whereas the people of Mexico have struggled for decades for 
     a true representative democracy, accountability, and the rule 
     of law and, in recent years, they have sought and obtained 
     significant political and electoral reforms in pursuit of 
     those objectives;
       Whereas the Federal Electoral Institute and its regional 
     councils, now genuinely independent and representative 
     bodies, were responsible for organizing the federal elections 
     on July 2, 2000, in which nearly 1,000,000 citizens 
     participated directly in conducting the balloting for a new 
     president, a new national congress, and state or local 
     officials in Mexico City as well as 10 states;
       Whereas the July 2nd elections were observed by 
     approximately 2,500,000 domestic monitors and 850 foreign 
     visitors, including delegations of the United States-based 
     International Republican Institute for International Affairs 
     and the National Democratic Institute;
       Whereas in the July 2nd elections, Vicente Fox Quesada of 
     the Alliance for Change (consisting of the National Action 
     Party and the Mexican Green Party) was elected President

[[Page S6692]]

     of the United Mexican States, receiving 42.5 percent of the 
     37,600,000 votes cast, according to preliminary results 
     released by the Federal Electoral Institute; and
       Whereas, according to the Federal Electoral Institute and 
     domestic and international observers, the July 2nd elections 
     were unprecedented in their degree of fairness and 
     transparency, forming the foundation for a genuinely 
     democratic and pluralistic government that represents the 
     will and sovereignty of the people of Mexico: Now, therefore, 
     be it
       Resolved,

     SECTION 1. CONGRATULATING THE PEOPLE OF MEXICO ON THE 
                   OCCASION OF THE DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS HELD IN 
                   MEXICO.

       (a) Congratulating the People of Mexico.--The Senate, on 
     behalf of the people of the United States, hereby--
       (1) congratulates the people of Mexico for their long, 
     courageous, and fruitful struggle for representative 
     democracy and the rule of law;
       (2) congratulates Vicente Fox Quesada for his electoral 
     triumph and extends to him genuine best wishes for great 
     success in his formation of a new government; and
       (3) congratulates Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon, current 
     President of the United Mexican States, for his historic 
     commitment to ensure the peaceful and stable transition of 
     power.
       (b) Sense of the Senate.--It is the sense of the Senate 
     that the United States should seek to--
       (1) expand and intensify its cooperation with the newly 
     elected Government of Mexico to promote economic development 
     and to reduce poverty to achieve an improved quality of life 
     for citizens of both countries;
       (2) confront common threats such as the trafficking in 
     illicit narcotics; and
       (3) act in solidarity to actively promote representative 
     democracy and the rule of law throughout the world.

     SEC. 2. TRANSMITTAL OF RESOLUTION.

       The Secretary of the Senate shall transmit a copy of this 
     resolution to--
       (1) Vicente Fox Quesada, President-elect of the United 
     Mexican States;
       (2) Luis Felipe Bravo Mena, president of the National 
     Action Party of Mexico;
       (3) the International Republican Institute for 
     International Affairs and the National Democratic Institute; 
     and
       (4) the Secretary of State with the request that the 
     Secretary further transmit such copy to Ernesto Zedillo Ponce 
     de Leon, President of the United Mexican States.

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