MEXICAN PRESIDENT, OBAMA TO TALK MONDAY

EL PASO -- Border experts say immigration, drug violence and the
global economic downturn should be the foremost topics at Monday's
meeting in Washington, D.C., between U.S. President-elect Barack
Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

Calderon plans to talk to Obama during his Monday visit to
Washington, D.C., according to a statement released Thursday by the
Mexican president's office is also expected to broach the issues of
the U.S.-Mexico bilateral agenda, which include immigration, trade
and security.

Calderon's first official meeting with Obama is likely to take place
at the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington, where he will also
meet with U.S. lawmakers and others to discuss "issues of regional
and global interest," the Mexican government said.

Jose Eduardo Borunda, a political science professor at the Autonomous
University of Chihuahua in Juarez, said it is imperative for Calderon
to seek a close working relationship with Obama.

"The top binational issues they need to talk about are immigration
reform, the (anti-drug-trafficking) Plan Merida package and the
global economic recession that knows no borders," Borunda said.
"Calderon's office has announced 25 points to improve the Mexican
economy, and hopefully his plan will have a positive impact."

Robert Grijalva, chief of staff for state Rep. Vicente "Chente"
Quintanilla, D-El Paso, has kept close tabs on conditions in Mexico.

"They definitely need to talk about the drug violence, Mexico's
economic downturn, which will affect us, and what the two nations can
do to strengthen the Mexican economy so that the flight (of Mexicans)
to the U.S. will become less attractive," Grijalva said.

Mexico's oil industry is taking a big hit because of falling world oil prices.

On Thursday, the price of export oil from Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex)
closed at $34 a barrel. Since last year, Pemex production has
plummeted by nearly 40 percent in the country where the petroleum
industry constitutes a third of the national income.