Vicente Fox used to sell cowboy boots and Coca-Cola in the backwaters of Mexico. Last week he crafted his sales pitch to the Mexican people and won the Presidency. It was the first democratic transfer of power in Mexico’s history.
Fox’s victory is historic, and expectations are high. After 71 years of rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, Mexicans sought, and finally got, a change.
The vote for Vicente Fox was more like a vote against the party of power. In addition to forming a new administration, Fox faces a host of broader challenges: there are few functioning democratic institutions; corruption is endemic; the economy is in slow motion; the drug trade is ceaseless; and U.S. immigration policy is a front-burner issue. Latin America and its northern neighbors are looking to Mexico for evidence that healthy democracy can take root and thrive.
(Hosted by Christopher Lydon)
Guests:
John Coatsworth, Head of the Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University
Richard Chacon, The Boston Globe’s Latin American Correspondent.