Excerpts from Vicente Fox's Presidential Address Last Night (Translation)

eluniversal.com.mx ^ | September 1, 2006 | Vicente Fox ( translated by self )

[StJacques]

Entire text of the message of President Fox to the nation

Message of President Vicente Fox Quesada to the Nation on the occasion of his VI Government Report

Mexican men and Mexican women:

As President of the Republic, the Constitution obligates me to attend the Congress each year, to present before the Deputies and Senators, a report about the results of the management of the Federal Government.

On this occasion, a group of legislators of the Party of the Democratic Revolution prevented the President of the Republic from being able to direct his message to the Congress and to the nation, on the occasion of the VI Government Report.

This attitude, contrary to democratic practices and to the exercise of freedom, does not represent an offense against my person, but instead to the Presidential Investiture and to all the people of Mexico.

In democracy, all voices must be heard.

In democracy, the Government is obligated to render an accounting to society and this is justly the sentiment of the annual report of the Government.

As our Magna Carta demanded, I have already attended the Congress of the Union and handed in the written report.

In light of these facts I have decided to direct myself to you, the female and male citizens of Mexico, to render an accounting and to share a political reflection on the course of six years of Government.

The strength of our democracy lies in the strength of the citizenry.

Mexico today is a nation of citizens; a nation of free women and men.

Society is now the principal actor in Mexico's great transformation. Its voice is the expression of the democracy we have constructed.

During these six years, as Mexican women and men we have taken into our hands the task of fortifying and giving full use of the Republic.

The separation of powers has consolidated itself as the pillar of the new democratic governability; as the principle to continue advancing along the road of unity, social peace, the common good, and democracy.

As the three powers of the union we assume the commitment of work, with an ample feeling of shared responsibility, in the defense of the national interest.

As never before; we, the Legislative, Judicial and Executive have complied with and respected the decisions which issued forth from the bosom of another branch.

The full use of this republican balance has been a fundamental element for the fortifying of our institutions.

We have fully entered the era of deliberation.

Today, the great decisions are the product of democratic debate and shared responsibility.

The establishment of a constitutional presidency demanded a difficult adjustment in the practices of Government, not exempting moments of tension.

The Mexican State functions ever more so under a system of weights and counterweights, which has become a solid base for the construction of agreements.

In this new stage, we have passed from Federalism in speech to Federalism in deeds.

We have put an end to a centralism which degrades the authority of local governments.

Today, Federalism signifies shared responsibility in the solution of local problems with a national vision.

The effective and constructive concurrency of the different orders of Government fortifies and exalts the Republic.

Democracy is synonymous with liberty, and today Mexico is living an authentic system of liberty.

Thanks to the arduous and prolonged struggle of society, we can now participate, disagreeing and agreeing, with the dignity of free women and men.

The freedoms of expression and the press, of association and assembly, are now reflective of an open and pluralistic society. Now they must also be factors of national unity.

We Mexican women and men believe in the force of right, not in the right of force.

We have converted the law into the first instrument of Government and the best guarantee of citizen freedoms and rights.

The respect for law is not nor can it ever be discretional; it is the basic condition of the social contract.

Today, democracy is the verb and the noun of national life.

Democracy consolidates itself with strict affection for law; in the respect for institutions; in the open dialogue between all political forces and in the making of decisions through agreement.

Still being perfectible, institutions are the most solid base of governability.

They are an essential part of our history.

Without institutions, citizen action dilutes itself.

Without laws and without institutions, democracy annihilates itself.

As never before, today the public management is truly public, facing the citizenry.

The transparency and the surrender of accounts are today points of our democratic life and prized public goods.

Thanks to the shared responsible action of the Executive and Legislative branches, today we count with a law and an institute which promotes transparency.

The new and growing participation of civil society has been the key to watching the management and the good use of federal public resources.

In the consolidation of the State of Right, the Judicial Branch has been the decisive factor by which our democracy is fit to act under clear and just laws.

The Judicial Branch has also been responsible for the attachment to lawfulness. Its resolutions have given certainty to national political growth.

The vitality of the Congress reflects the depth of our democracy.

The Legislative Branch has taken substantial steps to construct a new legal standard favoring the development of a more prosperous, just, equitable, and inclusive society.

The laws passed in these six years are the basis of a nation which condemns and punishes violence against women; which combats discrimination, of a Mexico that affirms the dignity of native peoples, children, people with differing capacities and the elderly; of a country which guarantees to all the right of health and education.

Our democracy has also fortified itself with laws which assure transparency and the right to information; with laws which guide us towards an economy centered on the well-being of people and which promotes development in the countryside, and with economic reforms which give us certainty and stability.

Where poverty and inequality prevail, democracy cannot plant firm roots.

Effective democracy only occurs between equals; its consolidation demands the overcoming of poverty.

Poverty diminishes the dignity of people and impedes the construction of a full citizenry.

We have promoted the convergence of social and economic policies, as the base upon which to construct a more just and humane society; a society proud of its multi-ethnic and multicultural identity; a society committed to settling its historic debt with its native peoples.

These have been years of intense work, for which the rights to nourishment, health, quality of education and life of millions of children and young people, women and men would be made worthwhile; for which they would be able to expand their capacities and opportunities.

They are the present and the future. Their future is the future of Mexico.

Without economic growth, there is no human development.

The mandate we received from the citizenry was to combine democracy with economic growth and social equity.

Today democracy and economic stability go hand in hand; they are the firm floor of national development.

Thanks to a responsible handling of economic policy, Mexican women and men have increased national growth, reducing poverty and improving the quality of life of families.

We have also managed to diminish inflation and interest rates to historic levels.

We have not indebted future generations. On the contrary, we have reduced in a substantial manner the external public debt.

We have established the putting of the public finances in balance and, with the valuable collaboration of the Congress, we have caught up.

This accomplishment, unknown in history, will permit the next Government to begin with healthy public finances. . . .

. . . Democracy is a conquest of conscience and reason.

It is a heritage of all Mexicans; a heritage which is itself caught up in the struggle of generations.

To live in a democracy is our decision. It is the responsibility of everyone to fortify and make it more effective.

Democratic governability advances by the institutional path. Today political and social conflicts are handled in institutions.

Democracy is not an end in itself; it is a means to bring the nation together and to attain the development everyone wants.

The true democrats think, speak, and act with a love for the values and the norms of democracy.

Being a democrat means more than proclaiming that you are one.

Democratic conviction demonstrates itself in deeds.

This year has been an especially sensitive one in our political life. It is necessary to evaluate in light of the freedoms which democracy has given us.

Last July 2 we were participants in the most crowded and competitive electoral process of our history.

With full freedom, we, Mexican women and men, have decided the course of the nation.

As a whole an exemplary civic spirit has prevailed in this process, which shows the soundness of our institutions.

The Federal Electoral Institute and the Electoral Tribunal of the Judicial Power of the Federation demonstrated, once again, that they are bastions of our democracy.

With citizen participation, democracy has fortified itself. To not recognize this is to negate the collective will.

The citizens are the best witnesses of this historic process.

Mexico is a pluralistic nation. The mandate of the ballot box has been dialogue and agreement.

Dialogue is a foundation of democracy.

In democratic Mexico, the engine of transformation is the vote of the citizenry, not the veto of institutions.

One must not subdue democracy beneath the argument of democracy.

One must not attempt to corner it by way of instransigence and violence.

Whoever attacks our laws and institutions, attacks our history, attacks Mexico.

No one can speak for the people while they attack them.

A divided society is a weak society; a society incapable of carrying out its aims; incapable of attending to the most needy.

We all have the obligation of promoting the understanding that brings us to find the things we have in common, conciliates differences, visions and opposing interests.

Mexico demands prudence, not stridency.

Mexico needs open minds to prevail, not closed minds.

Mexico demands harmony, not anarchy.

It is a time for unity.

It is a time for unity around the values and institutions of the nation; for unity in carrying out the yearnings for democracy, justice and the social welfare of the Mexican people.

Beyond affiliations and differences, we have a common history and future.

Mexico is a generous country in which we all fit together.

In this VI Government Report, I want to recognize female and male citizens for their will and determination to live in peace and harmony.

History will have to value the commitment of those who participated in the construction of Mexican democracy.

I thank all the political and social activists for their commited work in the highest interests of the nation.

Each citizen, from his field of competition, has put all his will into making Mexico the democracy which today makes us proud.. . . .

Democracy was worth the trouble.

Democracy is worth the trouble.

Long live democracy.

Long live Mexico.

Once again, many thanks to all women and men.

Good evening.

[StJacques]

I must confess that I am disappointed in the fact that Fox, the PAN and PRI Deputies and Senators, and others who could have made a difference did not stand up to the intimidation of the PRD last night when they occupied the rostrum in the Mexican Congress and prevented Fox from delivering his official Informe, or the "Government Report," which is similar to our "State of the Union Address" in this country.

But as I read Fox's address, and I've only omitted those portions of it which get into the details of Mexican social issues which I believe are handled with the limited sections I did translate, I detect a tone of conciliation and a larger call to Mexicans to step up and keep the social and political peace before the protests over the election and other conflicts take the country off the deep end. So in light of that observation I think I at least understand Fox's thinking in that a conciliatory message would not be well-received if its very delivery was predicated upon a physical confrontation on Mexican national television.

I must say to everyone that the way all of this went down yesterday has caused me to sit down and reflect upon what may have been some miscalculation on my own part as to what is really driving events from the viewpoint of Fox and the federal government. And what I mean by this is that I may have underestimated the threat Fox and his administration perceive in conflicts outside of the presidential election controversy, creating a nightmare scenario that they may all come together as one. I refer specifically to the near-chaos that now exists in the southern Mexican states of Oaxaca and Chiapas, where two separate controversies raise the possibility of what is repeatedly referred to in the Mexican press as La Ingobernabilidad del Pais (The Ingovernability of the Country). In Oaxaca a teachers strike that began last May has morphed into a popular demand, which is approaching a popular uprising, for the ouster of the PRI Governor Ulises Ruiz, whose corruption and mismanagement of the state coupled with a strong police crackdown on demonstrators, has brought public life there to a complete halt. In neighboring Chiapas the recent gubernatorial election a few weeks back appears to be an obvious instance of election fraud -- real election fraud -- in that the PRD seem to have stolen the seat and their state electoral institute has validated it. I expect to see this election "annulled" (a possibility under Mexican electoral law) in the not too distant future and, whether this happens or not, someone is going to be very angry. There have already been some instances of para-military actions against the landless poor in Chiapas and the whole situation there is a veritable powder keg waiting to explode in my opinion.

So right now I'm mulling all of this over in my head and I invite any and all of you to put your own two cents worth in, because my mind is not entirely made up as to whether I should view the post-election presidential controversy in and of itself, or whether I should place it within the larger context of a possible and coming "ingovernability" of Mexico. I really need to think this one over.

[StJacques]

A Mex-Elex ping for you all.

Anyone wishing to track the other translations I have posted on the post-election controversy in Mexico may do so using the forum's "keyword" search option with the unique keyword -- STJTRANSLATION

[StJacques]

neb52 and Tangaray, I'm pinging the two of you because I noticed that you jumped into the discussion late last night after almost everyone else had retired. I thought the two of you deserved a chance to get into the mix as things get started.

[Kitten Festival]

Thanks for doing this, StJacques, it's very useful!

[A CA Guy]

I thought that keyword would be ... sh!t-hit-fan

[monkeywrench]

What a powder keg.

[mtbopfuyn]

Mexican men and Mexican women: As President of the Republic, the Constitution obligates me to attend the Congress each year

Speaking from Washington D.C.?

[rovenstinez]

It's like no big deal in Mexico what is going on. Front page news of El Financiero is the Hindu's Celebration, of Reforma newspaper, about a bullfighter who died, and other papers the hurricane Jonh. (sic) Walking along the encampments in Mexico City there is deep resentment that their cries, pleas, demands, parades, shouts, obsenities, graffits and voices have not been heard. People there say they are NOT going to leave. Someday, sometime, in Mexico, they'll going to need a Mexican Version of Ronald Reagan that can FIRE the PATCO traffic controllers and tell them NOT to come to the Federal offices asking for FOODSTAMPS. Last night would have been a good time to show strength. Seems the message the world is having to process is can appeasement to any group not based upon law, due process and precedent bring about peace.

[NormsRevenge]

Thanks for posting, I was disappointed as well regarding yesterday's events in Mexico... But in all honesty, I have been for a long time. ;-)

Mexican President Vicente Fox, waves to supporters at the National Congress in Mexico City, Friday, Sept. 1, 2006 for his final state-of-the-union address to Congress.(AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

[StJacques]

But what about this?

http://www.cronica.com.mx/nota.php?id_nota=259203

[ARealMothersSonForever]

We garnered the national will to project power and influence to Kuwait, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Yet lack the will to either invest in Mexico or overthrow their corrupt regime. The same ones calling for a freakin wall are going to have a hard time WHEN the violence spills over into Texas, NM, AZ, and CA. Fortunately, the leftists are more entrenched in the northeast and northwest. Those of us in the south will provide a temporary buffer for the US elite. Too bad they kept blaming us for federal failures regarding CBP/ICE/INS.

[rovenstinez]

This news is on the 2nd page. Front page news in Mexico is a hurricane. One does have to dig, and can find things. Most people on the Mexico City Subway today will turn to the SPORTS section, Soccer first.

[StJacques]

". . . Yet lack the will to either invest in Mexico or overthrow their corrupt regime. . . ."

I would like to respectfully take issue with this point. The administration of Vicente Fox has been far more honest in its intent and in its accomplishments than any of the PRI regimes, who were all genuinely corrupt to their core, which preceded it. Vicente Fox was the first truly democratically-elected President of Mexico since the PRI organized Mexican politics into a one-party system in the 1930's. And Fox has made some progress, especially in the handling of national government finances and the exercise of federal power over state and local governments. Not a lot of people know about the economic and fiscal successes of Fox's administration. Mexico had 0.2% negative growth in its GDP his first year in office, the most recent statistics say this year's growth to date is 5.5%. They had an inflation rate of 6.3% that has now been reduced to something just above 3%. Their national debt, not the annual deficit, has been reduced 20%, from about $50 billion (U.S.) to $40 billion. Poverty rates have declined, particularly in the rural countryside. Interest rates have dropped significantly. The purchasing power of the peso has grown in step with all of the aforementioned. When you compare these accomplishments with the absolute and near criminal mismanagement of Mexico under the PRI for the previous twenty years or so, the record is a very good one.

But Fox has been unable to tame Mexico's "crony capitalism," which is still a holdover from the years of PRI dominance. Mexico's banking and financial system is still top-heavy, with wealth concentrated in a small number of institutions. Access to capital is still very much dependent upon "who you know" rather than an independent assessment of your credit-worthiness. And then there are the state-run monopolies in the Oil and Electricity industries that are still a source of significant corruption among the state bureaucrats who run them. Kickbacks for job placement and promotions, bribes funneled into the right hands result in the awarding of contracts, and the outright purchasing of union agreements by their leaders, at times under terms contrary to the interests of their own rank and file, are all still a part of the way "business is done" in Mexico today. It is no longer possible to raid the treasury directly or to deposit public funds in private accounts, even if just to keep the interest, the way things used to be under the PRI, which is Fox's success, but that is not enough. Fox tried to address so many of these issues with the Mexican Congress, and I do give him credit for trying, but it was dominated by the PRI who were bent upon sabotaging his reform program so as to permit them to approach the Mexican people in the elections this year as "the party who can get things done." It backfired on the PRI, because they were the really big losers this past July 2 and now find themselves demoted from the number 1 power in the Mexican national legislature, to the number 3.

And as for foreign investment, it has been flowing into Mexico for the last few years. Citigroup just bought out a Mexican bank, several other large foreign consortiums have opened up shop in Mexico, and the Mexican stock market, the Bolsa, which was put on a very tight leash by the Fox administration, has begun attracting capital at a very high rate over the past three years or so.

[Dane]

Well on Sept. 6th, Calderon will declared the President from an election in Mexico that was so transparent that in Detorit or Philadelphia, the democrat party bosses would have a heart attack at the transparency.

Again JMO, but I think the antics of Obragore and the PRD are going to backfire and has others have stated this wasn't even front page news and I think most Mexicans consider Obragore a sideshow that is descending into a beingn madness and will ignore him.

The one variable though is that rabid lefty sorelosers usually resort to violence and if that happens, I think the Mexican people will support a crackdown, but for now I think they see him as a somewhat benign loony.

[StJacques]

"The one variable though is that rabid lefty sorelosers usually resort to violence and if that happens"

Dane, I have just started translating an article that explains what really happened. Violence was part of the scheme, though of a diversionary nature. It occurred outside the legislative grounds. A group of real thugs who are known as the "Pancho Villas" began an assault on the Federal Preventive Police (PFP) which distracted everyone from what was going on inside the legislature and prevented the PFP from intervening. It's really disgusting. You can see the link for the article I'm translating in my #10 to rovenstinez. But let me put up two pictures to give you and eveyone else an advance look at what was going on outside the legislature:

   

It's a story of violent protestors outside the legislature working in conjunction with the PRD legislators inside the grounds to prevent any response to their seizure of the rostrum.

I'm going to get this up a little later. Unfortunately the article is not very well written and the translating is going a little slow.

[DragonMarine]

Does it seem to anybody else that the financial success in Fox's regime may have something to do with all of the cash flowing into the country via Western Union ?????

[StJacques]

Money sent to Mexico by immigrants to the U.S., whether the small number of legals or the great number of illegals, is the second largest source of foreign exchange for the country after oil revenues. But that flow of money has been constant, though growing slightly, over the past twenty-plus years which begs the question "why didn't the PRI governments do better when it constituted a greater percentage of their GDP than it does today?" And the money is a smaller percentage of Mexico's GDP today given the higher price for oil, which is actually more important in explaining Fox's success.

The real story here is that for the first time in memory and increase in the price of oil was actually returned to the Mexican government, rather than being stolen by those in the PRI.

[Reverend Bob]

I tend to think that Fox is biding his time, allowing the PRD's support to dwindle, and preparing for the "real" confrontation to come. To do anything before Calderon is officially declared the winner would be to invite charges of tampering. To instigate a conflict over a speech -- HIS -- might make it look personal. I think he's still laying the groundwork. I'm also thinking that the 16th will be very nasty indeed.

[rpgdfmx]

All Mexican media is biased (though, maybe all media is biased -- just that in the U.S. the biases are towards corporate capitalism, which is normal for just about everyone, so we don't notice it). Cronica is unusually so... owned by Jorge Kawagi, the pro-boxer and some-time Green Party Senator, it was set up specifically to attack Lopez Obrador.. Mexican news analyists don't consider it "mainstream" and, frankly, I'm not sure how it's stayed in business for the last 5 yars.

[StJacques]

Do you doubt the truth of that article rpgdfmx? The pictures suggest to me that is on target.

But I will say this, it is some of the poorest writing I've seen, which doesn't speak well for La Cronica.