At the halfway point of his single-term, six-year presidency, Enrique Peña Nieto feels the nation is back on track, largely thanks to the “robust” and “stable” macroeconomic climate.
At an event honoring the efforts of federal public servants held earlier this week, Mexico’s president lauded this year’s inflation figure, which at less than three percent is the lowest recorded for 45 years.
Peña Nieto also highlighted the fact that millions of Mexican families are now paying less for their electricity, and that the monthly hikes in gasoline and LP gas have been scrapped. He also mentioned the elimination of long-distance telephone charges as another major benefit for Mexicans.
Despite falling oil prices, international confidence in the Mexican economy has been reaffirmed, with 22 billion dollars of direct foreign investment, Peña Nieto noted, adding that the nation has re-entered the list of the world’s top ten preferred tourist destinations.
Mexico continues to open its borders and embrace globalization, the president said, and successfully completed the signing of important trade agreements in 2015, arguably the most significant being the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) among 12 Pacific Rim countries, including Japan, Australia, the United States and Canada.
Peña Nieto lauded the way Pacific Coast states, federal authorities and citizens responded in late October to the threat of Hurricane Patricia, the most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere. He also praised Mexico’s role in the COP 21 in Paris, when 196 nations signed a global agreement on the reduction of climate change.
Peña Nieto referred to June’s midterm elections as “exemplary,” and although he did not allude to the results, was surely satisfied that his Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) managed to maintain its status as the majority party in the Chamber of Deputies (lower house).
While he did not refer to his personal situation or continued low popularity, the president may feel 2015 – or at least its second half – has been a year of redemption for him.
The international community had welcomed the flurry of dramatic infrastructure reforms enacted in his first year in office (2013), with many pundits surmising that “Mexico’s Moment” had finally arrived. The bipartisan politics that led to forward-thinking energy, education, labor and telecommunications legislation had many foreign observers believing Peña Nieto was blessed with the Midas touch, as well as good looks and plenty of charm.
Events in late 2014 brought home the cruel reality that Mexico’s problems of old had not disappeared with the new regime.
Indignation at the government’s inability to combat drug violence, crime and corruption boiled over into public rage as 43 students disappeared after a protest in the state of Guerrero. At one stage, Peña Nieto’s mishandling of the aftermath of the crime seriously threatened his job.
Although the clamor for justice for the students continues – their bodies have never been recovered – Peña Nieto appears to have ridden that storm, even if the official investigation is completely discredited. He even managed to emerge unscathed from an investigation into the “White House” conflict of interest scandal, although he was forced to make a “sincere apology” over his wife’s purchase of a luxury residence that involved favored contractors.
Peña Nieto emphasized that authorities have made “solid and significant advances” on the pubic security and human rights fronts in 2015. What he failed to mention was the scandal provoked by the escape from a maximum security prison of Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman, the nation’s highest profile drug cartel boss. Despite several “sightings,” Guzman continues to be a fugitive seven months after his audacious vanishing act.
Peña Nieto spent a significant portion of this week’s speech to federal bureaucrats extolling the merits of his education reforms, which he believes will raise the standard of teaching in Mexico. Despite pockets of resistance around the country, more than 130,000 teachers have complied with the law and sat the mandatory performance tests.
Although many millions of Mexicans living below the poverty line might disagree, Peña Nieto stressed that federal authorities are committed to reducing inequality and raising the living standards of the country’s most economically challenged citizens. The president said policies enacted this year – such as the Ley Federal de Zonas Económicas Especiales – will soon start to bear fruit in Mexico’s most depressed regions. He also hailed the installation of 8.000 “community kitchens” around the country, which he said will guarantee proper nutrition for millions of families.