Sunday, June 18, 2006
What kind of relations would you have with the United States?
We would have a relationship of mutual respect.
How do you respond when people claim that you are another Hugo Chavez [the anti-American president of Venezuela]?
That is propaganda against me. I have no relationship with Chavez.
People are afraid that you are anti-business.
I have good relations with businessmen. I have problems with "influence traffickers" who . . . use the government for their own personal advantage.
How will you govern Mexico differently from President Fox?
There will be economic growth and job growth. We will try to reduce the number of people who are emigrating [to the United States] in search of work because the economy in Mexico is stagnant.
Would you allow private companies to invest in the government-controlled energy sector?
In no way whatsoever will there be foreign investment in the energy sector. In other sectors of the economy, yes.
Some say you have an authoritarian streak -- when you were mayor you said that some laws were stupid and did not have to be obeyed.
I never made such a remark. . . . I opposed corruption. On one occasion, they wanted me to pay an indemnity of $200 million based on forged documents. I refused to pay. And so my enemies said I did not respect the law.
Recently you came out with charges of corruption against the brother-in-law of your opponent, Calderon.
His company received contracts from Pemex and the Federal Electricity Commission when Calderon was energy secretary.
Do you think Calderon is corrupt?
Yes.
You said if elected you will give out many subsidies.
Yes, subsidies like the ones that are granted in the U.S . . . to farmers, agricultural businessmen . . . and cattlemen when it suits the public interest . . . to the elderly, to the disabled.
You have a rich country that needs to be developed?
It's a country with a lot of potential, but with bad government and a poor distribution of income. Eighty percent of all Mexicans have an income of about $500 a month or less. . . . I am not against businessmen. I'm against the corrupt ones.
Latin America has moved to the left under Chavez and [Bolivian President Evo] Morales. How would you position Mexico vis-à-vis Latin America?
To the left . . . like the rest of Latin America, but in accordance with our reality. Brazil and Venezuela and Bolivia do not have a 2,000-mile-long border with the United States.
So you cannot attack the U.S. as Chavez does?
No. I cannot do that. We have 20 million Mexicans in the U.S. Eighty percent of our international trade is with the U.S. So [our policy] has to be different.
So you won't be like Chavez trying to overthrow governments here and there?
No extravaganzas. . . . One size does not fit all.
Do you think Calderon is a weak candidate?
No . . . he has the support of the government. The campaign manager of Calderon is Fox. He doesn't want me to win the election and has done everything he can to stop me. . . . There has been a lot of interference by the government in favor of [Calderon]. What's important in Mexico is that the mindset of the people has changed. In the past we were like imaginary citizens. Today people are well informed, very aware and highly politicized. . . . There was a group that tried to depose me as mayor of Mexico City and remove my immunity. . . . They wanted to indict me on criminal charges so that I would be barred from running [for president]. They were persecuting me in the same way as they once persecuted Martin Luther King Jr.
Can you make a difference to your country if you become president?
Yes. Mexico has many resources. But the Mexican people have a huge slab on top of them that holds them down.
What is that?
Corruption and privileges. Mexico is a country that belongs to a select few, and we want it to be a country for all.
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