Fox's Hunt.

• Author: Vilbig, Peter
• Position: Mexican Pres. Vicente Fox - Brief Article

A NEW PRESIDENT TARGETS PEACE AND PROSPERITY FOR MEXICO

Talk about an inaugural speech. When the new President of Mexico took his oath of office in December, hostile members of the country's Congress kept their seats as he entered the room. As soon as he opened his mouth to speak, they started hooting and jeering. One shouted: "Liar!"

And you thought President Bush has it bad. In fact, Mexico's charismatic, newly elected President, Vicente Fox, a 58-year-old rancher turned businessman, faces political and economic problems that dwarf those of America's President. Fox is the first Mexican President not to come from the Institutional Revolutionary Party, known by its Spanish initials as "the PRI." The PRI had ruled Mexico for 71 years, controlling the presidency, all other political institutions, and the media--and was far from ready to give up power. Besides his political opponents, Fox faces severe economic problems, widespread crime, deeply rooted corruption, and the Zapatista rebel movement (see "The War Within"). And that doesn't even include immigration and trade issues with the United States.

Mexico, a country roughly three times the size of Texas, with 94 million people, has long lagged behind the U.S. in economic development. Many Mexicans still live on the equivalent of $2 a day. Millions of its citizens have fled, often illegally, to seek better lives in the U.S.

Fox has made it clear that he means to break with past policies, announcing within hours of his inauguration that the Mexican government's seven-year war with the Zapatistas was over. He pulled back military units and said he would negotiate with the...