MEXICO'S AMBASSADOR UPBEAT ABOUT COUNTRY'S FUTURE

Sarukhan Aims to Reassure Potential Tourists on Concerns About
Violence and Flu

Mexico's top diplomat in the U.S. came to Chicago Thursday as part of
an effort to rebuild his country's brand, battered as the country
became known as home of the H1N1 flu virus, devastating drug-related
violence and, most recently, the hijacking of a commercial flight from
sunny Cancun.

"I joke that all we need are toads falling from the sky," Ambassador
Arturo Sarukhan told the Tribune editorial board during a discussion
of narco-trafficking and other issues.

Sarukhan tried to reassure potential tourists by insisting that
drug-linked violence does not pose a threat to most foreign visitors.
He said it is largely confined in three cities: Ciudad Juarez, Tijuana
and Culiacan.

He said about 80 percent of the 11,000 people killed since President
Felipe Calderon took office in 2006 were drug traffickers killed by
the government or rival criminals. But he said he was not trying to
downplay the serious threat facing Mexico.

Just weeks after federal prosecutors in Chicago unveiled the largest
drug conspiracy indictment in the city's history -- tied to Mexican
drug cartels that import tons of cocaine -- Sarukhan said it is in
Americans' self-interest to stem the flow of illegal guns and money
into Mexico.

Sarukhan took exception to the perception that Mexico's drug problem
is spilling over the U.S. border. "There is no spillover because the
drug syndicates already are here," he said. "I don't know if they are
Mexican or if they have any nationality."

Sarukhan met with Mayor Richard Daley and other elected officials in
addition to making pitches to business leaders to change "the
narrative that has developed in the United States about Mexico."

Sarukhan said tourism is nearly back to normal after the U.S.
government warned against visiting Mexico in the wake of the H1N1 flu
outbreak this spring.

And he defended the Mexico's handling of the hijacking of an
AeroMexico jet on Wednesday. He said it showed the country ready to
handle terrorist situations, despite a breach that allowed a Bolivian
to bring aboard a juice can and claim it was a bomb.