Mexico's President Calderon urges country to move on to reform (Translation)

El Universal ( Mexico City ) ^ | January 17, 2007 | Roberto Rock ( translated by self )

[StJacques]

Caleron: tension was surpassed; reform is urgent

He recognizes that narcotics trafficking gangs can put the state in danger

Roberto Rock
El Universal (Mexico City)
Wednesday 17 January 2007

Institutions and the constitutional regime will surpass the challenge which the electoral crisis of last year signified, President Felipe Calderon Hinojosa assured today.

For the first time since his arrival to the presidency, Calderon made an evaluation of the post-electoral situation which [the country] lived through in 2006: "It was a panorama of generalized anxiety. I saw the imperious necessity of assuming power with all its consequences, with control of the decisions of the country. To govern, in a word."

In an interview with EL UNIVERSAL he affirmed that he had a strategy to deny recognition to a constituted government.

Now, at 47 days from having assumed office as Chief Executive, he is observing a political environment much more favorable for dialogue, that is not only the work of the government, he emphasized, but of "a more responsible political leadership."

He considered that the opposition, including the PRD, is acting with responsibility after having made an "adequate and rational" accounting of the costs which resulted from a strategy such as that which it started up, "one which was enormously disapproved of by Mexicans and which translated into political costs very difficult to overcome in a space with such an intense democratic life, as in our country," he revealed.

From his perspective changes are necessary to avoid new electoral crises. He proposed to give substance to an obligatory recount of precincts when they present "tight" results, moreover of a new regulation to give vent to the complaints of parties with the end of giving greater certainty, a reduction of the [public] financing of parties and a trimming of campaign time.

"I believe that we must have as a theme the correcting of the formulas because they are giving excessive financing to the parties and for the same reason electoral campaigns are overwhelming any legal estimation [of their reported costs],"¹ he explained.

With respect to the mechanism of a "runoff" in the electoral process,² Calderon showed restraint.

Referring himself to the subject of narcotics trafficking, he accepted that it can put the very life of the state in danger, when criminal groups take control of territories. He considered it a "most serious problem of public security."

In the chat he detailed the objective of the deployment of federal forces in Michoacan, Tijuana, and Guerrero.³ "The logic of the operations has been in good measure to recover the dominion of the state over territory and regions of the country and we have obtained that."

Approaching the presence of monopolies in Mexico, he said that it must be faced with legal actions of the state which permit motivating greater competition, a principle in which he believes "profoundly."

"Competition is necessary to create an orderly, productive economy, with an adequate system of production and distribution of goods and services," he suggested.

"I know that the role of the state consists in guaranteeing that conditions of competition are present . . . there must be clear rules in the market, to sustain an open economy with canons oriented towards competitiveness, to maintain the rule of law, to have clear rules and such for all, moreover the strengthening of regulatory bodies to avoid monopoly practices, specifically the Federal Competition Commission," he put forth.

Of the economic outlook for this year he reiterated that it will be "complex" and he did not discount the possibility of establishing subsidies favoring the consumers of tortillas and other products "depending upon the resources authorized by the Congress," but he advanced that he will seek punishment, even with the support of the PGR,⁴ against cases of speculation and hoarding.

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Translator's Notes:

¹ Though most reputable international electoral observers gave Mexico high marks for transparency and fairness in the conduct of the recent presidential elections, one of the principal criticisms leveled against the Mexican electoral process was that partial public funding of political campaigns had created neither an adequate system of monitoring campaign spending nor the "level playing field" they were intended to in the eyes of the Mexican people and that access to mass media may not have been equal either. See the following report, pages 5 through 7, for more.

² One of the possible reforms being suggested to avoid a repeat of last year's electoral crisis is that of a runoff election to guarantee that one candidate or another gets 50% of the vote.

³ Calderon has launched a crackdown on some of the major drug gangs in Mexico, that has apparently been somewhat successful in the states of Michoacan (west of Mexico City) and Guerrero (Acapulco), though less so in Tijuana, from where federal forces were redeployed to Acapulco. See Publius Pundit and Mark in Mexico's Tuesday, January 9th post for more.

⁴ Acronym for the Procuraduría General de la República, or Mexico's Attorney General's office.

 

[StJacques]

For everyone who followed the post-election crisis in Mexico last year, the tone of this interview with Felipe Calderon should be a welcome one. It appears that political partisanship may have subsided a little in Mexico since Calderon's inauguration and the business of governing appears to be taking front and center stage. This recent development may have been aided by the virtual collapse of the APPO protest in Oaxaca, numerous members of whom have been arrested over the past two months and charged with various offenses committed during the protests, especially associated with the destruction of both private and public property. The Left in Mexico is finding itself forced to return to the mainstream political process and it is worth noting why they are doing so -- important decisions are being made right now regarding Mexico's future and the PRD and their allies cannot remain on the sidelines throwing stones.

On the national political front, what has surfaced over the past few weeks is a debate over the direction of policy in which the PRD and others on the Mexican Left have attempted to focus the country's attention on some of the most basic problems Mexico's poorest citizens face in providing for their nutritional needs. PRD legislators have succeeded in winning a concession from Calderon's PAN Party and the PRI in securing their agreement to do something -- the details are under discussion right now -- to subsidize the expenditures of poorer families for tortillas and milk, with other items being urged for inclusion by the PRD. You will notice in the above interview that Calderon states his willingness to come to some kind of agreement, though he wants to make certain that the regulatory power of the Mexican federal government is enhanced with respect to policing unfair trade practices the Calderon administration believes to be a significant part of the problem.

Calderon, for his part, has succeeded in taking the first step towards the fulfillment of one of his principal campaign promises in securing congressional authorization for private partnerships in the exploitation of Mexico's nationally-owned oil reserves. It remains to be seen whether this will result in an influx of foreign capital investment in Mexican oil production, which is now sorely needed to sustain federal revenues with oil prices falling a little, as there is scant indication as to whether foreign investment means continued local control over drilling and production operations, which the Mexican labor unions insist upon to the detriment attracting much-needed capital and professional expertise required to make production work. This will need to be monitored more closely in the coming months and years, but for now Calderon's statements about about attacking monopolies in Mexico frames the larger context of his reform program at the moment; privatization of state-owned enterprises and enhancement of the competitiveness of the Mexican economy are front and center. In a speech given in Monterrey today he spoke to the business community against large-scale government management of the Mexican economy and quick fixes for immediate social problems saying there are no "recipes or magic formulas for growth and the generation of employment" and made clear that Mexico requires "investment," which obviously implied foreign investment in light of his recent acts, altogether marking his approach as one that will seek social development through economic growth and job-creation, rather than emphasizing immediate action by the government to materially alter the social condition of Mexico's poorest. While the particulars of this debate in Mexico may look unfamiliar to us, we can nonetheless recognize its form quite easily as the choice between spending national resources immediately to raise up the poor or to seek a long-term solution through market-oriented economic reforms designed to assure continued growth.

[StJacques]

A Mexican Left Watch ping for you all.

Anyone wishing to be added to the ping list may contact me via Freepmail or post within this thread.

[Joe Boucher]

Heard a lot of b.s. from fox also.
Anyone believe this baboso?
I wouldn't trust a Mexican politician and more then I'd trust Mrs. Clinton in Fort Marcey Park.

[happinesswithoutpeace]

Has there been any word on the testing of the firearms in Tijuana? I read elsewhere that some of the police force were using golf clubs and rocks since being disarmed. Has the presence of Federales improved the situation there?

[StJacques]

I have not heard of the results of the testing of Tijuana police firearms for forensic evidence linking them to gangland slayings. I tend to expect the forensics work to be fully complete and action taken before we hear anything.

And given that the Mark in Mexico blog (see link in Translator's Note #3 above) reports a failure in the effort to crack down on the Tijuana gangs, I would have to say that "no," I do not believe the situation there is much improved.

[happinesswithoutpeace]

Thanks! I will read the links.

[JCEccles]

Great update.

I am more and more pleased with Calderon. He has an extremely tough assignment but it appears he is up to the challenge. Calderon must succeed on his side of the border if we are to gain long-term control over our side of the border.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Bttt.

Thanks. We need to pay attention to our southern "neighbor." The best solution to illegal immigration--since our politicians refuse to obey and uphold the laws they pass--is to hope that Mexico can address the issue of jobs for their own people. Lets hope he is successful.

[BunnySlippers]

Helloooooooo ...

[Kitten Festival]

Thanks, StJacques - very valuable. And thanks for the links!

[livius]

The left sure seemed to believe him, which is why they tried so hard to keep him from taking office after he got elected.

I think he's a lot better than Fox. Fox was, among other things, a flake in his personal life and totally unreliable and not respected in his political life.

[Joe Boucher]

Fox broke the grip of one party rule in Mexico then squandered everything did nothing and accomplished little.
I hope Calderon can transform Mexico into anything other then a corrupt third world turd.

[livius]

That's true, Fox did squander it. I was a little surprised that Calderon managed to get elected, simply because Fox's performance had been so disappointing. To everyone, I suspect, ranging from the Mexicans themselves to George Bush and everybody in between.

[Shuttle Shucker]

Great to see you back at it, Saint!

1) It's surprising that Calderon hasn't sent the forces into Nuevo Laredo yet. I guess they're warming up first.

2) He talks about fighting monopolies but I'm not (yet) aware that CFC.gob.mx (Mexico's competition commission) has more than a mere $15 million annual budget.

3) Will he risk irking Forbes' 2nd wealthiest in the world, telecom monopolist Carlos Slim? Not likely, given his bland appointment to head the Communications Secretariat (SCT.gob.mx). Meanwhile, wireless broadband spectrum also useful for telephony, known as WiMax, remains unlicensed:

http://www.directorio.com.mx/wimax

4) It's been a while since October and yet they STILL haven't added you to the Ping List:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1608368/posts

Whazzup wit' dat?

[StJacques]

The telecommunications front has not been a primary emphasis for Calderon yet because he obviously has taken as "Job 1" the need to get oil production going in an era of falling oil prices. The necessity of doing this first is of paramount importance to Calderon because proceeds from oil are the largest contributor to Mexican government revenues. Given that Calderon has also had to make a political compromise with the PRD and PRI in agreeing to subsidize tortilla prices -- and possibly more -- there is the likelihood of a rising Mexican national government budget facing him as well. So the context within which his diatribe against "monopolies" must be taken has to deal primarily with the oil industry, though I doubt Calderon would want to exclude any association of its meaning with a broader attack on monopolistic enterprise to come later.

First; he must pay the bills. Then, move on to other matters.

[Shuttle Shucker]

Hi Saint:
Your thoughts are interesting although putting a dud in charge of the Communications Secretariat like Calderon did even before the price of oil fell so much doesn't seem to bode well.
Anyhow, thoughts like yours could be of considerable interest to these folks next week, don't you think?

The State of Politics, Law and Security in Mexico:
Implications for U.S. Immigration Policy

SAN DIEGO (January 2007) -- Discussion of U.S.-Mexico relations seldom acknowledges the longstanding and systemic conditions that foster the illegal out migration of hundreds of thousands of Mexican nationals each year. Neither Washington politicians nor the State Department want to publicly address the decades-long instability in Mexico for which no Mexican politicians are ever held accountable. Can any significant policy discussion of America’s border crisis with Mexico continue to ignore the basic conditions of America’s neighbor to the south?

To examine more fully the broad and basic challenges largely absent from the immigration debate in Washington, the Center for Immigration Studies is convening a panel discussion of leading experts on U.S.-Mexico relations. The panel will be held at the Hotel Solamar, 435 Sixth Avenue, San Diego, on Friday, January 26, 2007 at 9:30 a.m. The discussion will feature:

* George Grayson – Professor of Government, College of William & Mary

* David Shirk – Director, University of San Diego’s Trans-Border Institute

* Lynne Walker – Mexico City Bureau Chief, Copley News Service

* Mark Krikorian – Executive Director, Center for Immigration Studies

* Moderator: Peter Nunez, Chairman, Center for Immigration Studies; former U.S. Attorney, San Diego

The panel discussion is free and open to the public.

For more information, contact John Keeley at (202) 466-8185 or jmk@cis.org

###

To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to center@cis.org with REMOVE in the subject line.

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Center for Immigration Studies
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Washington, DC 20005
(202) 466-8185 fax: (202) 466-8076
center@cis.org www.cis.org

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[StJacques]

For anyone who has kept up with the Mark in Mexico Blog, the problems of state government corruption loom much larger in the eyes of Mexicans than anything else. Recent scandals in Quintana Roo, Guerrero, and Morelos have been absolute embarrasments to Mexico. Public funds are being openly appropriated after which they simply disappear and the uses for which these funds were intended are left unfulfilled. We are talking about hundreds of millions of American dollars worth of public funds in the scandals across these three states alone that were simply stolen. And most of the money was appropriated for infrastructural improvements like sanitation systems, road building and repair, public buildings, and such.

The Mexican federal government still has a long way to go to clean its own house but by comparison to the states its progress has been notable. But a Mexico that refuses to invest in its own infrastructure because crooked politicians steal the money set aside to fund it is a Mexico that is being strangled as it attempts to stand up on its own two feet. The impact upon Mexican public sentiment of scandals such as these is very detrimental to the country's long-term prospects for development and does not inspire anyone with the confidence that things will get better.

I am convinced that dealing with problems associated with infrastructure writ large in Mexico may be the first thing the country needs to do to in the eyes of its own people -- and I'm suggesting that most Mexicans still do not understand the need to modernize their economy, which should be their most important goal -- to convince them that things are changing for the better. Unless ordinary Mexicans can look around and see tangible evidence that progress is at hand, nothing will change with regard to the immigration situation. And I haven't even begun to discuss the economic impact such infrastructural improvements would have.

I believe job one in Mexico is moving the federal government away from its old Corporate State structure, a process Fox began and, based upon the evidence gleaned thus far, Calderon intends to pursue much more aggressively. But job two is still dealing with public corruption. It's a problem that is primarily focused within the state governments, but it is every bit as serious as it's ever been. Too many Mexicans are still leaving because they see no future for themselves where they live and that is NOT just an economic decision. All the polling data says that Mexicans see their society and public institutions corrupted across the board. No one is likely to stay under those conditions.

[Shuttle Shucker]

I seem to recall that the open records laws only apply to the federal government, not the states individually. Wouldn't it be great if we could get states to embrace them too then? You have opened my eyes to a new priority on which I had not previously focused.

[Regulator]

I hope Calderon can transform Mexico into anything other then a corrupt third world turd

Changing Mexico in one generation would be miraculous, much less one Sexenio.

Trying to undo 500 years of hideous oppression and cultural atavism will take at least 3 generations. At least. And only if they try, and want to.

[Shuttle Shucker]

Here's what ObraGore's trying to accomplish against Calderon now:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/world/4484209.html