Excerpts from Vicente Fox's Presidential Address Last Night (Translation)

eluniversal.com.mx ^ | September 1, 2006 | Vicente Fox ( translated by self )

[StJacques]

I must confess that I am disappointed in the fact that Fox, the PAN and PRI Deputies and Senators, and others who could have made a difference did not stand up to the intimidation of the PRD last night when they occupied the rostrum in the Mexican Congress and prevented Fox from delivering his official Informe, or the "Government Report," which is similar to our "State of the Union Address" in this country.

But as I read Fox's address, and I've only omitted those portions of it which get into the details of Mexican social issues which I believe are handled with the limited sections I did translate, I detect a tone of conciliation and a larger call to Mexicans to step up and keep the social and political peace before the protests over the election and other conflicts take the country off the deep end. So in light of that observation I think I at least understand Fox's thinking in that a conciliatory message would not be well-received if its very delivery was predicated upon a physical confrontation on Mexican national television.

I must say to everyone that the way all of this went down yesterday has caused me to sit down and reflect upon what may have been some miscalculation on my own part as to what is really driving events from the viewpoint of Fox and the federal government. And what I mean by this is that I may have underestimated the threat Fox and his administration perceive in conflicts outside of the presidential election controversy, creating a nightmare scenario that they may all come together as one. I refer specifically to the near-chaos that now exists in the southern Mexican states of Oaxaca and Chiapas, where two separate controversies raise the possibility of what is repeatedly referred to in the Mexican press as La Ingobernabilidad del Pais (The Ingovernability of the Country). In Oaxaca a teachers strike that began last May has morphed into a popular demand, which is approaching a popular uprising, for the ouster of the PRI Governor Ulises Ruiz, whose corruption and mismanagement of the state coupled with a strong police crackdown on demonstrators, has brought public life there to a complete halt. In neighboring Chiapas the recent gubernatorial election a few weeks back appears to be an obvious instance of election fraud -- real election fraud -- in that the PRD seem to have stolen the seat and their state electoral institute has validated it. I expect to see this election "annulled" (a possibility under Mexican electoral law) in the not too distant future and, whether this happens or not, someone is going to be very angry. There have already been some instances of para-military actions against the landless poor in Chiapas and the whole situation there is a veritable powder keg waiting to explode in my opinion.

So right now I'm mulling all of this over in my head and I invite any and all of you to put your own two cents worth in, because my mind is not entirely made up as to whether I should view the post-election presidential controversy in and of itself, or whether I should place it within the larger context of a possible and coming "ingovernability" of Mexico. I really need to think this one over.

[StJacques]

A Mex-Elex ping for you all.

Anyone wishing to track the other translations I have posted on the post-election controversy in Mexico may do so using the forum's "keyword" search option with the unique keyword -- STJTRANSLATION

[StJacques]

neb52 and Tangaray, I'm pinging the two of you because I noticed that you jumped into the discussion late last night after almost everyone else had retired. I thought the two of you deserved a chance to get into the mix as things get started.

[Kitten Festival]

Thanks for doing this, StJacques, it's very useful!

[A CA Guy]

I thought that keyword would be ... sh!t-hit-fan

[monkeywrench]

What a powder keg.

[mtbopfuyn]

Mexican men and Mexican women: As President of the Republic, the Constitution obligates me to attend the Congress each year

Speaking from Washington D.C.?

[rovenstinez]

It's like no big deal in Mexico what is going on. Front page news of El Financiero is the Hindu's Celebration, of Reforma newspaper, about a bullfighter who died, and other papers the hurricane Jonh. (sic) Walking along the encampments in Mexico City there is deep resentment that their cries, pleas, demands, parades, shouts, obsenities, graffits and voices have not been heard. People there say they are NOT going to leave. Someday, sometime, in Mexico, they'll going to need a Mexican Version of Ronald Reagan that can FIRE the PATCO traffic controllers and tell them NOT to come to the Federal offices asking for FOODSTAMPS. Last night would have been a good time to show strength. Seems the message the world is having to process is can appeasement to any group not based upon law, due process and precedent bring about peace.

[NormsRevenge]

Thanks for posting, I was disappointed as well regarding yesterday's events in Mexico... But in all honesty, I have been for a long time. ;-)

Mexican President Vicente Fox, waves to supporters at the National Congress in Mexico City, Friday, Sept. 1, 2006 for his final state-of-the-union address to Congress.(AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

[StJacques]

But what about this?

http://www.cronica.com.mx/nota.php?id_nota=259203

[ARealMothersSonForever]

We garnered the national will to project power and influence to Kuwait, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Yet lack the will to either invest in Mexico or overthrow their corrupt regime. The same ones calling for a freakin wall are going to have a hard time WHEN the violence spills over into Texas, NM, AZ, and CA. Fortunately, the leftists are more entrenched in the northeast and northwest. Those of us in the south will provide a temporary buffer for the US elite. Too bad they kept blaming us for federal failures regarding CBP/ICE/INS.

[rovenstinez]

This news is on the 2nd page. Front page news in Mexico is a hurricane. One does have to dig, and can find things. Most people on the Mexico City Subway today will turn to the SPORTS section, Soccer first.

[StJacques]

". . . Yet lack the will to either invest in Mexico or overthrow their corrupt regime. . . ."

I would like to respectfully take issue with this point. The administration of Vicente Fox has been far more honest in its intent and in its accomplishments than any of the PRI regimes, who were all genuinely corrupt to their core, which preceded it. Vicente Fox was the first truly democratically-elected President of Mexico since the PRI organized Mexican politics into a one-party system in the 1930's. And Fox has made some progress, especially in the handling of national government finances and the exercise of federal power over state and local governments. Not a lot of people know about the economic and fiscal successes of Fox's administration. Mexico had 0.2% negative growth in its GDP his first year in office, the most recent statistics say this year's growth to date is 5.5%. They had an inflation rate of 6.3% that has now been reduced to something just above 3%. Their national debt, not the annual deficit, has been reduced 20%, from about $50 billion (U.S.) to $40 billion. Poverty rates have declined, particularly in the rural countryside. Interest rates have dropped significantly. The purchasing power of the peso has grown in step with all of the aforementioned. When you compare these accomplishments with the absolute and near criminal mismanagement of Mexico under the PRI for the previous twenty years or so, the record is a very good one.

But Fox has been unable to tame Mexico's "crony capitalism," which is still a holdover from the years of PRI dominance. Mexico's banking and financial system is still top-heavy, with wealth concentrated in a small number of institutions. Access to capital is still very much dependent upon "who you know" rather than an independent assessment of your credit-worthiness. And then there are the state-run monopolies in the Oil and Electricity industries that are still a source of significant corruption among the state bureaucrats who run them. Kickbacks for job placement and promotions, bribes funneled into the right hands result in the awarding of contracts, and the outright purchasing of union agreements by their leaders, at times under terms contrary to the interests of their own rank and file, are all still a part of the way "business is done" in Mexico today. It is no longer possible to raid the treasury directly or to deposit public funds in private accounts, even if just to keep the interest, the way things used to be under the PRI, which is Fox's success, but that is not enough. Fox tried to address so many of these issues with the Mexican Congress, and I do give him credit for trying, but it was dominated by the PRI who were bent upon sabotaging his reform program so as to permit them to approach the Mexican people in the elections this year as "the party who can get things done." It backfired on the PRI, because they were the really big losers this past July 2 and now find themselves demoted from the number 1 power in the Mexican national legislature, to the number 3.

And as for foreign investment, it has been flowing into Mexico for the last few years. Citigroup just bought out a Mexican bank, several other large foreign consortiums have opened up shop in Mexico, and the Mexican stock market, the Bolsa, which was put on a very tight leash by the Fox administration, has begun attracting capital at a very high rate over the past three years or so.

[Dane]

Well on Sept. 6th, Calderon will declared the President from an election in Mexico that was so transparent that in Detorit or Philadelphia, the democrat party bosses would have a heart attack at the transparency.

Again JMO, but I think the antics of Obragore and the PRD are going to backfire and has others have stated this wasn't even front page news and I think most Mexicans consider Obragore a sideshow that is descending into a beingn madness and will ignore him.

The one variable though is that rabid lefty sorelosers usually resort to violence and if that happens, I think the Mexican people will support a crackdown, but for now I think they see him as a somewhat benign loony.

[StJacques]

"The one variable though is that rabid lefty sorelosers usually resort to violence and if that happens"

Dane, I have just started translating an article that explains what really happened. Violence was part of the scheme, though of a diversionary nature. It occurred outside the legislative grounds. A group of real thugs who are known as the "Pancho Villas" began an assault on the Federal Preventive Police (PFP) which distracted everyone from what was going on inside the legislature and prevented the PFP from intervening. It's really disgusting. You can see the link for the article I'm translating in my #10 to rovenstinez. But let me put up two pictures to give you and eveyone else an advance look at what was going on outside the legislature:

   

It's a story of violent protestors outside the legislature working in conjunction with the PRD legislators inside the grounds to prevent any response to their seizure of the rostrum.

I'm going to get this up a little later. Unfortunately the article is not very well written and the translating is going a little slow.

[DragonMarine]

Does it seem to anybody else that the financial success in Fox's regime may have something to do with all of the cash flowing into the country via Western Union ?????

[StJacques]

Money sent to Mexico by immigrants to the U.S., whether the small number of legals or the great number of illegals, is the second largest source of foreign exchange for the country after oil revenues. But that flow of money has been constant, though growing slightly, over the past twenty-plus years which begs the question "why didn't the PRI governments do better when it constituted a greater percentage of their GDP than it does today?" And the money is a smaller percentage of Mexico's GDP today given the higher price for oil, which is actually more important in explaining Fox's success.

The real story here is that for the first time in memory and increase in the price of oil was actually returned to the Mexican government, rather than being stolen by those in the PRI.

[Reverend Bob]

I tend to think that Fox is biding his time, allowing the PRD's support to dwindle, and preparing for the "real" confrontation to come. To do anything before Calderon is officially declared the winner would be to invite charges of tampering. To instigate a conflict over a speech -- HIS -- might make it look personal. I think he's still laying the groundwork. I'm also thinking that the 16th will be very nasty indeed.

[rpgdfmx]

All Mexican media is biased (though, maybe all media is biased -- just that in the U.S. the biases are towards corporate capitalism, which is normal for just about everyone, so we don't notice it). Cronica is unusually so... owned by Jorge Kawagi, the pro-boxer and some-time Green Party Senator, it was set up specifically to attack Lopez Obrador.. Mexican news analyists don't consider it "mainstream" and, frankly, I'm not sure how it's stayed in business for the last 5 yars.

[StJacques]

Do you doubt the truth of that article rpgdfmx? The pictures suggest to me that is on target.

But I will say this, it is some of the poorest writing I've seen, which doesn't speak well for La Cronica.