Vicente Fox brought the Mexican right wing into government after several decades in the shadows.

However, six years have passed and Mexico hasn't been able to move forward. The highly touted changes have gone against the interests of the vast majority.

The promises of seven percent economic growth rates during the six-year period are nothing more than a joke now in political circles. Today, the poverty that he promised to eliminate compromises the future of millions of citizens.

The situation of the indigenous people, that he proclaimed would be a priority, continues to be shameful. High unemployment rates and emigration from the rural Mexico multiplies to reach more than five million people as a consequence of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Dung the term of the present government the minimum wage increased by barely 80 cents of a US dollar, but the President's salary soared from 10,000 to 16,000 dollars a month.

While retirement is a dilemma for most Mexicans because they lack social security, Fox is proposing to increase the pension to which he is entitled at the moment of leaving office.

And as to the corruption he promised to combat, there is nothing to say because his family has clearly used power to its advantage. The scandals of the very expensive towels bought for the Los Pinos residence, the super expensive designer clothing of the first lady, the shady businesses of his sons, together with the fabulous meals at the presidential residence and the family trips paid for from the nation's budget, were news throughout his years in office, as the visible side of a terrible social phenomenon.

A recent poll by Transparencia nternacional (International Transparency) showed how more than half of the Mexicans questioned admitted having offered bribes in order to "avoid problems with the authorities."

The media reports daily on how little by little the drug czars are taking over the nation and how they frighten Mexican society, already hard hit by violence. Estimates show that up to 15 million firearms could be in the hands of Mexicans.

The country's foreign policy, first handled by Castañeda and now by Derbez, has been the area of the worst performance of the Fox administration. Far removed from any previous policies formulated by Benito Juarez, the Estrada doctrine and the previous foreign affairs ministers, the present Mexican government has turned into a proxy of US interests and a factor of confrontation within the Latin American context.

A chain of wrongdoings, arrogant attitudes and betrayals have marked its relations with the rest of the region and acted as a political boomerang. He failed at the Mar del Plata Summit as the spokesperson for the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas, and his attacks on the governments of Argentina and Venezuela, that brought him a resounding reply by Kirchner and the solid blow from Chavez, who described him as a "lap dog of the empire," continued with his recent intervention in Bolivia before the inauguration of Evo Morales, who replied sharply and directly to him.

Far from any Latin American unity objectives, previously a principal of Mexican politics, the Fox administration refused to accept the Venezuelan proposal of widening the reach of the San Jose Pact to supply oil to nations of the region, and he has also refused to give a boost to the full membership of Mexico in the MERCOSUR trade agreement.

Nevertheless, his US partners concede few favors to the Mexican rancher. The refusal to accept any immigration agreement, the inhuman and degrading treatment of Mexican émigrés, and the huge and offensive wall that is been raised at the border are trod upon by a government that promised to resolve that crucial problem during its mandate.

Other events in recent months that further deteriorated the image of the Fox administration were the Sheraton Hotel affair, the intimidating visit of the CIA chief to demand more control at the border, and the aggressive statements by US intelligence czar, John D. Negroponte.

The actions of Fox and his cabinet have demonstrated that above national sovereignty and the Constitution, are the business deals reached with Halliburton and its Kellogg Brown and Root subsidiary (with Cheney as the go between) valued at 1.22 billion dollars. If servitude is a source of business, Fox and his friends have no problems with that.

Just a few days separate us from knowing who will be the next president of Mexico. There are many hoping for a change in the direction of the country. It is hard to imagine six years worse for Mexico than the first six of the 21 st century.

http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/
secciones/ingles/opinion/art43.html