Pubdate: Sun, 23 Jun 2002
Source: Lexington Herald-Leader (KY)
Copyright: 2002 Lexington Herald-Leader
Contact:  http://www.kentucky.com/mld/heraldleader/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/240
Author: Kevin Sullivan

FOX'S SHIP OF STATE 'JUST FLOATING' 2 YEARS AFTER MEXICAN ELECTION UPSET

MEXICO CITY - Nearly two years after his historic election, President 
Vicente Fox is presiding over a paralyzed and bickering administration that 
has failed to deliver on a cascade of promises to make Mexico richer, 
safer, better educated and less corrupt.

The charismatic Fox ended the 71-year rule of the Institutional 
Revolutionary Party, or PRI, on July 2, 2000, with a promise to overhaul a 
corrupt government that had lost the people's faith. But as Fox has proved 
unable to advance his goals, the euphoria of his election has dissipated. 
In its place is increasing concern that history may remember Fox as the man 
who ended the PRI's reign but accomplished little as president.

"Fox is not captain of the ship. We are just floating," said historian 
Lorenzo Meyer. "I worry that the rest of his term is going to be 
characterized by just surviving."

Fox has scored victories: He's made government spending more transparent 
and allowed international human rights observers into Mexico for the first 
time. He appointed a prosecutor to review disappearances of anti-government 
activists in the 1970s and '80s; in the past week, he gave the public 
access to the government's secret files on those cases. Several long-sought 
drug kingpins have been arrested during his tenure, and previously strained 
relations with U.S. law enforcement agencies have improved markedly.

But almost 19 months since he took office, his reform agenda is frozen by 
hostile relations with Congress and lack of coordination and unity in his 
Cabinet. He's made little progress on pledges to modernize key parts of the 
economy: an outdated tax code that allows widespread cheating, energy 
problems that are leading to California-style power outages, and antiquated 
labor laws that hinder business investment.

Having lost the initial momentum of his celebrated victory, Fox now faces 
at least another year of stalemate because of the increasingly bitter 
political climate ahead of congressional elections next summer. Many 
analysts here say Fox's agenda will remain bogged down in partisan feuding, 
including potentially damaging allegations by his opponents that Fox's 
campaign accepted illegal foreign contributions.

Rodolfo Elizondo, Fox's chief spokesman, said: "President Fox is very aware 
that the circumstances aren't allowing him to advance as quickly as 
everyone wanted. But he knows it's a marathon, not a sprint."

Even some of Fox's strongest allies, particularly business leaders, say 
such arguments are beginning to sound like excuses and that Fox's 
government is stuck. "Yes, there is very strong inertia and resistance, but 
by now we had hoped for at least some clear indications of where he is 
going," said Pedro Javier Gonzalez of Dialogo Mexico, an organization of 
business leaders that recently issued a report criticizing what it called 
Fox's lack of leadership.

Fox's relations with the United States were to be the crown jewel of his 
administration, but they're stalled, largely because of Washington's new 
security-first approach to border issues since Sept. 11. Rather than the 
European Union-style open border Fox initially envisioned, the U.S. border 
will probably be even more tightly guarded under President Bush's proposed 
Department of Homeland Security.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens