Ending poverty key focus of incoming PRI government

MGRR News Analysis -
Mexico's president-elect announces bold designs during European junket

Guadalajara -
Mexico's next president may or may not intend to play Let's Make a Deal with narco bosses, depending on which sources you accept as credible. If he does, it won't make a police commander over in Puerto Vallarta very happy. But there is increasing evidence that cartel capos will not be at the top of Enrique Peña Nieto's household punch list when he takes office Dec. 1, irrespective of what his drug war strategy ultimately proves to be. Some suggested this soon after the July 1 ballots were counted (Peña Nieto's biggest challenges will be economy and environment, not drug cartels), and there is reason to believe their analysis was correct.

Mr. Peña Nieto, who convincingly if not crushingly captured Los Pinos in last summer's four way contest, has been on the Continent the last few days meeting with European heads of state. Today he lunched with French president François Hollande, and between sips of a very dry Chardonnay (I've no idea if that's true, but a chilled glass sounds fine right now, so I'm exercising journalistic license) they discussed a young woman named Florence Cassez. I suspect each decided to pour a second glass when her name came up.

But on his way out of London yesterday, the president-elect told the press that one of his greatest concerns was the extreme poverty to which millions of Mexicans are condemned (Increasing poverty and rising state debt result in poor economic report for Mexico). He promised to remake Mexico into "a country of the present, with modern markets."

"We're going to promote a series of political and economic reforms directed at improving the well-being of all Mexicans. Necessary reforms, evident for a long time, but which still are not in place."

In an article which appeared in this morning's edition of Le Monde, perhaps France's most influential newspaper, Peña Nieto outlined his anti-poverty plans: Pour en finir avec la pauvreté au Mexique.

He praised labor reforms recently approved by Mexico's congress, which he said were enacted without violating workers' fundamental entitlements. He referred to health care as "an inalienable right," and said that Mexico's state owned and controlled petroleum company, Pemex, should be "open to private investment without stripping it of its national character." The latter, a perennial hot topic in Mexican politics, has cost more than one candidate an election over the years.

Above all, said the incoming president, "Mexico must take decisive steps to promote and foster business competition."

Peña Nieto promised to "fight corruption, abuse of power and a culture of non-accountability" at all levels of government." By promoting investment in the national economy, he argued that "Mexico will come to occupy that (world) position to which it is entitled in the 21st century."

The president-elect called Mexico "the most important of all the Spanish speaking countries," adding that "our objective is to transform Mexico into a world leader in the diffusion of the Spanish language and its many cultural gifts, in cinema, literature, radio, journalism, television and advanced education. Mexico has a considerable responsibility among the nations of the world," he said.

Peña Nieto also asserted in the Le Monde article that Mexico wants to "open a dialog with countries and regions of strategic importance, particularly France and all of Europe."

Perhaps the job ahead will be easier than he suspects. This time a year ago Mexico was receiving a dire economic prognosis for 2012. But then the sun popped out and the nation is steaming along far better than many, including its big neighbor to the north (Mexican economy grew at more than double the U.S. rate in second quarter of 2012, says Hacienda).

Nov. 16 - Gross economic disparity still a hard fact of Mexican life

Note: Mexico has only one presidential aircraft, and the current holder of the office loaned it to Peña Nieto for his trip east. But then the incoming boss will get his own new wings about three years from now, time enough to enjoy it for 36 months or so. And he doesn't have to worry about paying for it. Enrique Peña Nieto will travel in style, aboard Boeing 787 Dreamliner.