The cartels have been running Mexico at least since President Miguel de la Madrid.
For the life of me, I can’t remember this guy. From his Wiki page, sounds like he went through a presidency similar to Bush 43.
“During de la Madrid’s presidency, he introduced liberal economic reforms that encouraged foreign investment, and widespread privatisations of outdated state-run industries and reduction of tariffs, a process that continued under his successors, which immediately caught the attention of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other international observers. In 1986, Mexico entered the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) treaty, following its efforts of reforming and decentralising its economy. All told, the number of state-owned industries went down from approx. 1,155 in 1982 to 412 in 1988. This is enough to bring him some strong support, but his administration’s mishandling of the infamous 1985 earthquake in Mexico City damaged his popularity for initially refusing international aid, and it placed Mexico’s delicate path to economic recovery on an even more precarious situation, as the destruction also extended to other parts of the country.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_de_la_Madrid