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CANADA IMPLEMENTS VISA REQUIREMENT FOR ALL MEXICAN VISITORS.

Article Excerpt
Canada ruffled feathers in Mexico when it decided to require a visa for any Mexican traveling to that country, effective immediately. The Canadian government imposed the requirement on travelers from Mexico and the Czech Republic because of a surge in the number of citizens from the two countries who had requested refugee status in the past few years. There was immediate pressure from some quarters for President Felipe Calderon's administration to respond in kind, but others in Mexico, especially the tourism industry, warned against steps that would curb the number of Canadian visitors to Mexico.

Canada trying to stem increase in refugee requests

Canada announced its decision to require visas for Mexican and Czech travelers on July 13, although Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper had discussed this possibility with the Calderon administration as far back as November 2008. The Canadian Foreign Affairs Ministry informed Mexican and Czech officials of its decision a few days before the new regulations were put in place.

Mexican officials said they immediately expressed their opposition to the Canadian government. "We disagreed with this measure," Mexican Foreign Affairs Secretary Patricia Espinosa told reporters.

The move would affect tens of thousands of Mexicans who travel to Canada each year. Mexico's Confederacion Nacional Turistica (CNT) estimates that more than 266,000 Mexicans visited Canada in 2008, an increase of almost...

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