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French president visits Mexico

The Associated Press

MEXICO CITY (AP) — French President Nicolas Sarkozy was trying to boost his country's business with a visit to Mexico on Monday, but the interest back home seemed to center on a Frenchwoman convicted of kidnapping in Mexico.

Sarkozy briefly raised the case of Florence Cassez with President Felipe Calderon as they toured the Teotihuacan pyramids outside Mexico City on Sunday, Immigration Minister Eric Besson told France's Europe-1 radio.

Besson said Sarkozy would raise the issue again during Monday's formal talks.

French news media have been fascinated by the case of Cassez, who is serving a 60-year sentence for three kidnappings in 2005.

Cassez, 34, has acknowledged that she lived at the ranch where three of the kidnap victims were held, including an 8-year-old girl. But she said she was simply dating a Mexican arrested in the case and did not know the people at the ranch had been kidnapped.

One of the victims, however, has identified Cassez as one of her captors.

The Mexican government acknowledged that officials staged a televised raid of the ranch, allegedly showing police rescuing the hostages and detaining Cassez and a Mexican man. The Attorney General's Office now says that, in fact, Cassez had been arrested the day before.

Calderon may let Sarkozy's wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, visit Cassez in prison, Sarkozy's office said, though it was not officially on the agenda.

The Paris daily Liberation referred to the case with a front page headline, "The Florence Cassez Headache," noting that Sarkozy has been under pressure to win Cassez's release, at least to a prison in France.

The issue is sensitive in Mexico, which has one of the highest kidnapping rates in the world and where there is increasing public pressure to halt what is seen as widespread impunity for crimes.

Under an international extradition agreement, Cassez could ask to carry out her sentence in France. But if that would force her to accept her sentence and forgo any appeals, according to her attorney, Agustin Acosta.

Acosta said Cassez also could appeal for a retrial, a process he said would be lengthy and risky because the outcome would be uncertain.

Speaking at Mexico's National Palace on Monday, Sarkozy praised Calderon for Mexico's "courageous and determined battle" against drug cartels. Drug violence claimed more than 6,200 lives in 2008.

Sarkozy had planned to focus the trip on strengthening economic ties with Mexico. He was accompanied by executives from Airbus parent EADS, energy giant GDF-Suez, major food maker Groupe Danone SA, drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis SA, top cement maker Lafarge SA and others.

Among new contracts expected were a vaccine production plant for Paris-based Sanofi-Aventis; a deal for France's Thales Group to supply Mexico with video surveillance cameras; and a helicopter deal.

France also was likely to offer Mexico help in reviving its nuclear industry. France is a major nuclear power advocate and nuclear reactor maker.

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Associated Press writer Christine Ollivier contributed to this report from Paris.