The PRI may have won the presidency, but it failed to secure a total victory in the legislature — the party will lead both houses, but without a majority, meaning the PRI will find it difficult to pass the structural reforms that EPN’s campaign promised. Mexico Institute's Eric Olson quoted.
Eurasia Review, 07/13/2012
The PRI may have won the presidency, but it failed to secure a total victory in the legislature — the party will lead both houses, but without a majority, meaning the PRI will find it difficult to pass the structural reforms that EPN’s campaign promised. EPN outlined some of these in a letter to The New York Times, in which he promised to build on NAFTA as an engine for growth and to strengthen Mexico’s economic and political relationships with the Asia-Pacific region and Europe. Although he can expect pushback from congressional opponents, he has also suggested privatizing Pemex, the state-owned oil industry.
EPN also supports U.S.-Mexican cooperation in the drug war, but has called on the United States to do more to curtail drug demand. He has agreed to allow U.S. surveillance drones but has been clear that he will not support Colombia- or Honduras-style joint armed counternarcotics operations.
“It is just as if I asked you: ‘Should our police operate on the other side of the border?’ No. That would not be allowed by U.S. law. Our situation is the same,” he said. Still, elements of ambiguity within his plans have prompted scholar Eric Olson to observe, “I’m more and more convinced that they don’t really have a blueprint.”
The Mexico Institute seeks to improve understanding, communication, and cooperation between Mexico and the United States by promoting original research, encouraging public discussion, and proposing policy options for enhancing the bilateral relationship. A binational Advisory Board, chaired by Luis Téllez and Earl Anthony Wayne, oversees the work of the Mexico Institute. Read more
