VICENTE FOX

Mexico and the U.S. can greatly benefit from their proximity. Our current relationship can bear even more fruit for both sides when Mexico becomes a democracy. Historically, however, the U.S. has been an unwitting tool of the PRI’s grip on Mexico.

Before, the PRI derived its legitimacy the Soviet way: by creating an external enemy to justify internal repression. We were told that the U.S. was responsible for Mexico’s ills, and that it continuously plotted to destabilize us further. PAN won a gubernatorial election in Baja California in the 1950s, but the PRI justified stealing that election through “patriotic fraud” because PAN, according to the PRI, was obviously going to sell Baja to the Yankee imperialists. The PRI’s Mexico pursued self-victimization to justify corporatism that it cloaked in nationalist appeals. It also engaged in corruption, fraud, censorship and dictatorship.

But as the PRI lost legitimacy at home, the formula changed. Since 1982, the PRI has found in the United States the sources of strength and legitimacy it lost domestically. In addition, numerous U.S.-led economic bailouts helped to retard needed reforms and entrenched a deeply illegitimate government in Mexico. The U.S. regrettably believed the propaganda that criticizing the PRI was criticizing Mexico.

The PRI’s obsessive abuse of the word “sovereignty” is indicative of its ambivalence. We have a saying in Mexico: “Tell me what you brag, and I will tell you what you lack.” The PRI reduced Mexico’s sovereignty by illegally incurring debts without the advice and consent of the governed. Even the most anti-American elements of the PRI deposit their corrupt booty in U.S. banks.

Unlike the PRI, PAN has never viewed the United States with childish ambivalence. The “democratic peace” theory explains why: Mexico’s most democratic party will have businesslike and fruitful cooperation with the world’s greatest democracy, much like Canada has. We expect the same respect from the United States.

Once I become president, I will work to introduce three basic innovations to deal with the United States:

* Mexicans living in the U.S. will play a crucial role in rebuilding our devastated country. (See www.PRILEGACY.com).

* I will lay the foundation for a North American common market within 30 years.

* I will forge a new partnership with the U.S. based on shared democratic values, with the goal of achieving mutual prosperity, sustainability and hope.

The more democracy there is in Mexico, the better relations there will be with the U.S. and the world. Mexico will recover its sovereignty only when the PRI is finally ousted from office.