http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0125mapsfolo25.html

Mexico distances itself from map project Distribution date of March sticky for ties with U.S.

Chris Hawley Republic Mexico City Bureau Jan. 25, 2006 12:00 AM

MEXICO CITY - President Vicente Fox's government on Tuesday distanced itself from Mexico's National Human Rights Commission after the agency announced it will give at least 70,000 maps of the Arizona desert to potential migrants.

The commission said it will begin distributing the maps throughout Mexico beginning in March, a delicate time for U.S.-Mexican relations because the U.S. Senate is expected to soon begin debating immigration reforms that Fox has been championing.

"The National Human Rights Commission is an autonomous commission," Fox spokesman Rubn Aguilar said Tuesday after The Arizona Republic broke the news of the maps.

"(The commission) operates with funds that Congress assigns it, not with funds that the executive branch assigns it," Aguilar said. "Within that framework, it has decided to take this action."

The commission said it will distribute the full-color, poster-size maps through human rights offices, civic groups and migrant-affairs agencies in Mexican states. The posters were designed by a Tucson-based group, Humane Borders.

The four maps show the areas around Douglas, Lukeville, Sasabe and Nogales. They show landmarks such as mountains, highways and railroads, water stations and Border Patrol rescue beacons where migrants can summon help.

They also show where migrants have died over the past four years and indicate how much territory a migrant can expect to cover on foot each day. There are safety tips such as, "Use adequate clothing and boots or tennis shoes." A message at the bottom of each map urges, "Don't go! There's not enough water! It's not worth it!"

The purpose of the maps is to save lives, not to encourage border-crossers, said Mauricio Farah, assistant human rights commissioner for migrant affairs, during a news conference announcing the project.

"Many (migrants) don't know where to walk, they just head into the desert," he said. "We are not showing them a route so they can get in. . . . This is simply a warning of how many days it will take if they decide to go, the supplies they should take with them and where they can go to save their lives."

Mexico's Human Rights Commission has enormous influence. It has pushed for Mexico to investigate the "Dirty War" against government opponents in the 1960s and '70s, and last year it went toe to toe with Fox over efforts to impeach the mayor of Mexico City, a political rival. Fox eventually backed down.

Humane Borders had said it might also try to distribute the maps through Mexican consulates and Grupo Beta, Mexico's migrant protection force.

But on Monday, the Mexican Foreign Ministry said its consulates would not participate in the project. Interior Minister Carlos Abascal, who oversees Grupo Beta, told The Republic he was unaware of the plan and could not comment on whether his agents would participate.

Last year, the Mexican government caused a furor in the United States by publishing a comic-book-style guide for migrants. The southeastern state of Yucatn produced an even more detailed guide.

Recently, the Mexican government has been trying to improve its U.S. image as Fox pushes for U.S. reforms that could legalize millions of Mexican migrants. The government has hired a Dallas public relations firm to help portray Mexico as a partner, not an adversary, on immigration issues.