Published: August 01, 2000
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International
A ringside seat for history in the making
By Rick Rodriguez
It was a glimpse into history-in-the-making, an opportunity to see news
of international significance as it was unfolding in Mexico.
The International Committee’s trip to Mexico City, May 31 - June 2,
couldn’t have come at a better time — just a month before Vicente Fox,
the candidate of the center-right National Action Party (PAN) ended 71
years of rule by the center-left Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI)
in a historic presidential election.
It was a trip memorable not only for its newsworthy timing and outcome,
but for the access our group of 16 ASNE editors and journalists were granted.
Take, for example, this comment from Andy Alexander, Cox Newspapers
Washington Bureau Chief.
“I’ve reported from more than 50 countries, but I’ve never been on a
trip that offered greater access to key decision makers. During a single
day, for example, we met individually with Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo
and the two leading candidates to replace him.”
“As with previous ASNE foreign trips, this one showed the power and
prestige of our organization,” Alexander continued. “And it served as a
reminder that the presence of ASNE in a country like Mexico, which has
been slow to embrace true press freedoms, can quietly but forcefully underscore
our commitment to core journalistic values.”
The meetings not only included sessions with Fox and President Zedillo
at Los Pinos, the Mexican White House, but PRI candidate Francisco Labastida
and members of Zedillo’s cabinet.
It became clear that there was hope a transformation indeed had taken
place in Mexico, that a change in the electoral system would result in
an open and fair election that could end PRI’s 71 years of one-party rule.
It also became clear that the architect of the historical electoral
changes was President Zedillo, a man who was thrust into the presidential
race six years ago when outgoing President Carlos Salinas’ hand-picked
candidate, Luis Colosio, was assassinated.
Zedillo came into office in 1994 promising to bring real democracy to
Mexico, but no one believed him. And even in the June 1 interview, virtually
all of us in the ASNE group had doubts.
But Zedillo, a Yale-educated economist, seemed confident and comfortable
with what he had set in motion: the possibility he would hand over
rule to Fox and the PAN.
“We’re in the middle of a highly intense, highly contested election,”
Zedillo said. “But for me, the most important aspect of that election is
that it is being conducted with rules and institutions that fairly guarantee
that their vote be counted and respected...”
“...We are arriving without any doubt at a new kind of political stability
based on the rules and principles of democracy. That would be quite good
for the long-term development of Mexico.”
Fox, a tough-talking former Coca-Cola executive and governor of the
state of Guanajuato, was confident he was the people’s choice. He repeatedly
told the ASNE group that he had no confidence Mexico’s ruling party would
give up power without some sort of chicanery.
“I trust fully the electoral authorities in Mexico, the electoral commission.
It is in the hands of good, honest, reliable citizens. But I reiterate,
I don’t trust Zedillo. I don’t trust Labastida. I don’t trust PRI...So
we’re taking defensive measures to make sure that the votes are respected
in Mexico on July 2,” Fox said.
None were needed. Fox will be inaugurated Dec. 1.
ASNE members should be able to hear firsthand about Mexico’s transformation.
ASNE President Rich Oppel secured a pledge from Fox to address the ASNE
convention in Washington, D.C., should he be elected. Let’s hope it’s a
campaign promise the new president of Mexico will keep.
Rodriguez, executive editor of The Sacramento (Calif.) Bee, is chair
of the International Committee.
