CIUDAD ACUNA, Mexico - The mayor of Ciudad Acuna, on the Texas border, led about 400 people on a 56-mile march that began Tuesday to protest a proposed border fence.

Ciudad Acuna Mayor Evaristo Perez said the march along the border to Piedras Negras, across from Eagle Pass, Texas, was an attempt to bring together border communities against the 1,100 kilometers (700 miles) of new fencing approved by the U.S. Congress and planned for the U.S.-Mexico border.

"We want to raise consciousness, to awaken the border giant that lives from Tamaulipas all the way to Baja California," Perez said.

Last month, U.S. President George W. Bush signed the bill to build the new fencing and to add more vehicle barriers, lighting and infrared cameras.

President Vicente Fox called the plan "an embarrassment for the United States."

Perez said the march was also to get the attention of U.S. Hispanics voting Tuesday in midterm elections.

"They have to think if they want to vote for those (politicians) who push for bills that divide and discriminate, or those who support unity," Perez said.