Canadian diplomat sparks ire in Mexico

Country corrupt, ambassador tells magazine writer

By Linda Diebel
Toronto Star Latin American Bureau

MEXICO CITY Canada's ambassador to Mexico is mired in controversy over an
interview in which he says he's never seen corruption on the scale it
exists here, mocks the government's war against narcotrafficking and
declares that Washington is just playing a game when it pretends to
pressure Mexico over drugs.

The diplomatic and public anger follows Ambassador Marc Perron's interview
with Milenio, a popular weekly news magazine.

The issue was published yesterday, but excerpts were leaked Friday to
various Mexican newspapers.

In exceedingly frank comments for a diplomat, Perron lectures Mexico at
length, holds Canada up as an example of lawandorder, eviscerates several
recent business deals involving Canadian companies and uses such terms as
``a joke'' and ``a barbarity'' to describe political life in Mexico.

The magazine itself points out in a headline that Perron's ``vision and
attitude break all diplomatic molds . . . there's nothing that falls
outside of his critical view.''

Yesterday, widely read columnist Juan Ruiz, who writes for both Novedades
in Spanish and The News in English, reported Mexican Foreign Relations
Secretary José Angel Gurria phoned his Canadian counterpart, Lloyd
Axworthy, to complain.

He said Axworthy promised to ``look into the matter.''

In Ottawa yesterday, Axworthy's office issued a statement.

``We are aware of the conversation that took place between Ambassador
Perron and the journalist in Mexico,'' it said.

``We are examining the implications of Ambassador Perron's comments.''

Afterward, a Mexican foreign relations ministry spokesperson said there
would be no further comment.

Milenio journalist Gabriela Aguilar, 29, interviewed Perron in Spanish at
Mexico City's exclusive University Club over lunch, taping the session.

``I'm an expert on the Middle East and when I arrived here I thought I
already knew everything there was to know about corruption,'' Perron told
her. Among other posts, he served as Canadian ambassador to Egypt and as
deputy minister for Africa and the Middle East.

``But I was wrong. When one sees what goes on in this country . . . It is
very difficult to understand.''

Perron is scathing in his analysis of both the Mexican government's
commitment to fighting the drug trade, and the public response from
Washington.

``I think that the pressure on Mexico from the United States is just a game
that the American government uses for political ends, and serves to hide a
much blacker reality in that country (the U.S.),'' says the ambassador.