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Interview With Mexican President Vicente Fox
March 21 -- The election last July of Mexican President Vicente Fox ended 70 years of one-party rule in Mexico. In Mexico and in the United States, people are looking to him to make changes. Peter Jennings visited Fox last weekend at his ranch in the central state of Guanajuato. Below are excerpts from the interview.
First 100 Days
Jennings: My first impression, having watched your Saturday radio program is how different it is from President Bush, and before him President Clinton; and secondly that you really seem to enjoy the power and the reach of the media. Is that right?
Fox: No doubt I enjoy being close to people in the way I dress, the way I speak, and the way I communicate with people. To me governing is communicating. That facilitates the whole job because I can listen, I can hear what people have to say, and at the same time I can let them know what are we working on, what is our strategic line, and where are we going.
Jennings: So that's the communication. In terms of governing, you've just had 100 days. How has it been? How tough?
Fox: Well, I think it's been great. I don't change my job for any other. I'm really enjoying it. And fortunately we are keeping ourselves together with people, because I have on the polls 85 percent support of people, to the programs, and to government. This is unusual in Mexico, so we're keeping the spirit of July 2 [when Fox was elected president] with us.
The Drug Trade
Jennings: I want to talk to you about Mexico and the United States, and watching you hear in the garden, I'm struck by the fact that when Mr. Bush came here to see you, it was something of a lost opportunity for Mexico because he was here and they bombed Iraq, and some people said on that day you were actually annoyed somewhat, that the focus had gone elsewhere. Was that day something of a lost opportunity for Mexico?
Fox: No, I don't think so. Of course it affected uh... news-wise, but the content of the meeting was excellent. For the first time I heard a president saying for instance, in the case of drugs, that part of the problem, the main part of the problem, is drug consumption in the United States.
And it is true. Because that is what generates these billions of dollars that are used to corrupt Mexican officials and Mexican policemen. And so we decided to work on a team effort in the case of drug trafficking and let behind the unilateral certification procedure and change into a multilateral commitment, to work coordinated, and really meet organized crime, in the international arena.
Jennings: You brought up drugs even sooner than I would have, but now that you have... Recent interviews with you that I've read, seem to be aggressively suggesting that this is a Mexican problem, and I wonder if you, like a lot of other Mexicans, don't think this is rather hypocritical of Americans that you think this is an American problem?
Fox: No, it is an international problem. It is a common problem, not only in the United States and Mexico. Colombia has a lot to do with this, Central America, the Caribbean. Because when we caught the traffic of drugs within Mexico, then they move to the Caribbean, or they move to the Pacific. So we must organize ourselves to meet organized crime in the international arena; otherwise they will always have the advantage, because they don't recognize borders?
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