Mexico’s grand bargaining..The Post

·      Con el nuevo gobierno del presidente Peña Nieto, los mexicanos están demostrando que los grandes acuerdos políticos sí se pueden llevar a cabo, sostiene un editorial del diario The Washington Post.

"Ahora con el nuevo presidente Peña Nieto, los mexicanos están probando que las grandes negociaciones políticas pueden suceder, y que las democracias pueden abordar sus problemas más duros", indicó el periódico en su editorial principal titulada La gran negociación de México.(Mexico’s grand bargaining)

El Post destacó que “en cuestión de meses”, los legisladores han aprobado reformas “innovadoras” en materia laboral y educación y han dado una “demostración de fuerza” con la detención de la exlideresa sindical Elba Esther Gordillo; agregó que también está en proceso la legislación en el sector de las telecomunicaciones, la cual se encuentra en el Senado, luego de que la Cámara de Diputados la avalara.

Sobre esto, The Washington Post refiere que la reforma está dirigida a las “dos empresas privadas más poderosas de México”, América Móvil de Carlos Slim, y Televisa de Emilio Azcárraga.

 “Las reformas significan focalizar a algunas de las figuras más poderosas del país: Carlos Slim de América Móvil, que es el hombre más rico del mundo , y Emilio Azcárraga , cuya empresa Televisa emplea a la actriz y esposa del señor Peña Nieto, y favoreció su campaña presidencial”.

El diario señaló que estos cambios de han dado gracias al pacto que Peña Nieto realizó con los presidentes de los partidos políticos de oposición.

"La reformas se lograron gracias al pacto político que Peña Nieto negoció con los dos partidos de oposición (...) si el presidente lo hace a su manera, más iniciativas políticamente sensibles están en camino", remarcó el rotativo.

Asimismo, puntualiza que los primeros meses de gobierno de Peña Nieto contrastan con los de su predecesor Felipe Calderón, quien optó por lanzar una guerra contra los cárteles del narcotráfico, indicó.

El periódico anotó que el destrabe de las reformas en México "debería servir como un ejemplo positivo para Washington".

El editorial: Mexico’s grand bargaining

By Editorial Board, Published: March 29-2013

FOR MORE than a decade, Mexico’s congress was mired in three-way gridlock, making passage of desperately needed fiscal, economic and social reforms almost impossible. Now, under new president Enrique Peña Nieto, Mexicans are proving that political grand bargains can happen — and that democracies can tackle their toughest problems.

In a matter of months, their legislators have approved groundbreaking shake-ups of labor law and education, stripping unions of their corrupt control over teaching positions and making it easier for companies to hire and fire workers. Now they are moving toward passage of legislation that would break up virtual monopolies in telecommunications. America Movil and Televisa, two of Mexico’s biggest private companies, would lose their dominance over the mobile phone and broadcast television markets — a grip that costs the Mexican economy tens of billions of dollars a year.

 Editorials represent the views of The Washington Post as an institution, as determined through debate among members of the editorial board. News reporters and editors never contribute to editorial board discussions, and editorial board members don’t have any role in news coverage.

The reforms mean targeting some of the country’s most powerful figures: Carlos Slim of America Movil, who is the world’s richest man, and Emilio Azcárraga, whose Televisa network employs Mr. Peña Nieto’s actress wife and favored his presidential campaign. The oligarchs’ losses will be balanced somewhat by the opportunity to compete in each other’s markets. But the government also staged a show of force against the legendary and high-living boss of the teachers union, arresting her on corruption charges.

These reforms were accomplished thanks to a political pact that Mr. Peña Nieto negotiated with the country’s two opposition parties, representing the right and left ends of the political spectrum. If the president has his way, even bigger and more politically sensitive initiatives are on the way. At the beginning of this month, he persuaded his Institutional Revolutionary Party, which dominated Mexican politics until the turn of this century, to support a fiscal reform that would permit taxes on food and medicines, and private and foreign investment in oil production. Though the government is still negotiating with the political parties on the shake-up of state oil monopoly Pemex — Mexico’s most sacred political cow — it’s possible that multinationals will be able to begin drilling for oil in deep waters off the Mexican shore through joint ventures, as they are doing already in Brazil.

 The burst of change contrasts dramatically with the opening months of Mr. Peña Nieto’s predecessor as president, Felipe Calderón, who chose to launch an all-out war against the country’s drug-trafficking cartels. The massive offensive led to the capture and death of a number of cartel leaders, but the trafficking of cocaine and associated violence continues almost unabated. Mr. Peña Nieto’s foreign minister, José Antonio Meade, told us during a visit to Washington last week that the new administration plans to build on Mr. Calderón’s large expansion of police forces while aiming to combat trafficking by attacking its “root causes,” such as poverty and the lack of employment.

 Some in the Obama administration worry that the new president is diverting resources and focus from the drug war. Yet Mr. Peña Nieto is tackling problems that have held back Mexico for a generation, helping to create the economic misery that empowers the drug cartels. Washington should be cheering Mexico’s gridlock busting — and taking it as an example.