Chocolate massage for Mexico deputies

Link : http://uk.news.yahoo.com/041020/80/f4wb5.html


MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Unable to pass meaningful legislation, deputies in Mexico's Congress have been offered a chance to kick back with a full-body chocolate massage.


A leftist deputy stirred up a fuss by offering fellow lawmakers a 10 percent discount on massages at a posh salon even as proposed legislative measures seen as important to the economy gather dust.


Angelica de la Pena, a member for the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution, sent the lower chamber's 500 members a letter on official notepaper last week urging them to try the salon and recommending anti-depression "chocolate massages."


The massage parlour cited in the letter described the chocolate massage as a full-body treatment involving a massage with cocoa and essential oils that cost 500 pesos (24 pounds) and lasted about 90 minutes.


Her advice backfired on Tuesday when the letter was published in national newspapers.


"I think there are more interesting issues that we should be communicating to each other about, like energy reforms, labour reforms and fiscal reforms," Green Party Deputy Luis Antonio Gonzalez told Reuters on Tuesday.


Gonzalez complained to the chamber's ruling body about the letter, which he said wasted time and might have broken house rules since the massage parlour appeared to be owned by an associate of the deputy.


In her letter, De La Pena wrote: "You are bound to have found yourself really tired or worn out. Even with difficulties in sleeping and relaxing. Now is the time to 'spoil' your body a bit."


It was not known if any deputies took up the offer of a discount.


President Vicente Fox has been frustrated by Congress' rejection of his economic reform proposals since he came to power in 2000.


His National Action Party is in the minority in the lower chamber and analysts see little chance of major legislation being passed before the next presidential election in two years.


Earlier this year, a senior Green Party deputy drew attention to Congress' inaction when he spent weeks on a reality TV show instead of attending to legislative matters.