Mexican truckers doubt U.S. road access

 

Monday, June 7, 2004 Posted: 4:42 PM EDT (2042 GMT)

 

REYNOSA, Mexico (AP) -- Mexican truckers lined up at a hot, windy border crossing Monday said they were doubtful a new Supreme Court ruling in their favor will give them access to U.S. highways, as required under the North American Free Trade Agreement.

 

They complain that strict U.S. inspectors often keep them from crossing into the 20-mile (32-kilometer) U.S. buffer zone where they are currently allowed to drop off their cargo.

 

"If it is tough here," trucker Antonio Casillas said at a cluster of food stands at the crossing into Pharr, Texas, "I'm sure that further in you will be detained, truck and all."

 

Casillas, 45, is the owner and driver of an 18-wheeler that hauls broccoli, lettuce and strawberries from central Guanajuato state to the border. But he says he has considered eliminating his border trips because the two- and three-hour truck inspections are a waste of time and money. He often ends up dumping his load at a warehouse in Mexico, a few miles (kilometers) from the border, and a U.S. truck takes the produce across.

 

Mexican truckers have been waiting since 1998 for the implementation of NAFTA rules that guarantee them access to the United States.

 

U.S. President George W. Bush ordered the opening of all U.S. roads to Mexican trucks in 2002. But union and environmental groups took the decision to the Supreme Court, arguing that Mexican trucks are unsafe and pollute the environment.

 

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Monday that the Bush administration can skip a lengthy environmental study and open U.S. roadways to Mexican trucks as soon as it wishes.

 

"It's important. It's a step forward ... it upholds the law," Leon Flores Gonzalez, president of Mexico's National Freight Transport Chamber, said of the ruling. "But what we need are legal guarantees to have the right to circulate freely in all states and in equal conditions."

 

U.S. truck drivers, who earn roughly double the pay of their Mexican counterparts, fear the ruling will prompt their employers to replace them with Mexican drivers.

 

Mexican truckers complain that they can't afford to meet strict U.S. regulations.

 

Cesar Perez, 65, is a driver paid to simply ferry loads a few miles (kilometers) each day, from the Mexican side across the border into the United States. Each trip pays $50, but can cost him up to three hours of inspection time.

 

Pausing between a load of mangoes and limes headed for the northern United States and Canada, Perez said he could make a lot more money driving rigs from Mexico to points across the United States.

 

"I'd go to the end of the world, but the problem is that the American officials are really strict," he said.

 

Flores Gonzalez said U.S. truck safety inspectors are hitting Mexican trucks with what he called "excessive fines."

 

He said truckers face fees "if you lack a tool, or the engine is out of tune, or a light is burned out."

 

"We can't even get into Texas because they say we're not fit to drive" on those roads, Flores Gonzalez said.

 

He said the often smaller, less well-financed Mexican trucking firms are concerned about competition from U.S firms, which have access to cheap credit and might be tempted to begin entering the Mexican market.

 

Flores Gonzalez conceded Mexican trucks have a bad reputation in the United States.

 

"They say our trucks are too old, too heavy, too polluting, and that our drivers earn less," he said, countering, "We have strong, well-financed companies that are able to compete with anybody in the world."