Obviously there are external factors that will influence how well or how weakly we move out of this situation. But we moved very quickly to obtain the support of the International Monetary Fund and the U.S. government. so I have great confidence that we will overcome the crisis in a reasonable period. What really surprised us was the massive movement of capital that occurred after the Dec. 20 devaluation. It was unprecedented because we were dealing with a new kind of market, an emerging market, new kinds of investors and totally different circumstances than in the ‘7Os or ’80s. And obviously, the severity of the crisis was beyond expectations.
They should not look at the capital loss they had in December; they should look it the returns they had over the past five years. And if you talk to direct investors, as I have over the past few weeks, their view of Mexico is totally different from the one you might hear on Wall Street. These are large manufacturing firms, and their experience has been positive; they are convinced of the potential of the Mexican economy.
As president I have to be very concerned. This crisis is imposing a great toll on the welfare of the Mexican people. But the {austerity measures], as Painful as they are, in fact are avoiding a more painful situation. What I’ve been doing has to be seen in the context of a very severe, crisis. It’s not easy to be the messenger of bad news, and basically what I’ve been doing these past three months is giving the Mexican people bad news. That’s not comfortable for me or for them, but it’s my responsibility to speak honestly and truthfully. I have avoided being a demagogue who says, “This isn’t really a crisis, don’t worry, we’ll get out of this without any pain or effort.”
For many decades, one of the main weaknesses of Mexico’s development has been in the area of law. We haven’t had strong enough institutions. we haven’t had wise enough laws and w e haven’t had a culture of the rule of law. It is not a problem new to Mexico; it’s very deep in our cultural and historical roots. But we have reached a point at which that has to be changed, because in many respects the obstacles to development that we have hit have to do with the fact that we don’t have a totally satisfactory justice system. This is a worldwide problem, and we are working perhaps harder than others now to improve the situation.
We have heard for years about connections between drug traffickers and [police]. I am also worried [about involvement by other officials], but the attorney general’s office has not produced any new evidence whatsoever involving government officials outside the police in drug trafficking. Still, I have instructed the attorney general not to discard any hypothesis.
I cannot think of anyone who would have wanted that. If there was a conspiracy, maybe it was somebody who wanted to see political instability in Mexico, disorder, to see national unity broken, to see our economy fail. They were trying to hit not only Colosio but Mexico and that’s exactly what happened. [Charges that the ruling party may have been involved] are totally unfounded. Nobody has provided any evidence in that respect, although it seems to have become a fundamental truth in the press. Colosio was perhaps the party’s most popular candidate in many decades, so I cannot think of any legitimate interest in my party wanting Colosio dead.
