Mexico's president urges voters to stick with democracy

MEXICO CITY -- Sure, it would be easier to be a dictator. Or even a king.

But in a series of television and radio spots, Mexican President Vicente Fox reminds a populace seeking his successor that he was elected to be Mexico's first democratic leader -- and he promises to continue to fight for democracy no matter how much work that takes.

Featuring Fox in a library next to a Mexican flag, the five spots are designed to remind Mexicans of the often fraudulent elections under the long-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI.

The ads are running ahead of the president's state-of-the-nation address Thursday to Congress -- his last such speech before the July 2006 elections.

Fox, prohibited by law from seeking another term in office, also plans to spend the three days after the speech touring several Mexican states to talk with state and local officials about progress he's made.

Interior Secretary Carlos Abascal says the campaign is aimed at making sure Mexicans "don't forget how Mexico was in the past."

Fox prides himself on being the man who ushered Mexico into a full democracy. His victory in July 2000 ended 71 years of PRI rule.

While the PRI united the country in 1929 after years of civil war and strife, it became infamous for rigging elections and pouring money into public works projects in the run-up to elections -- only to watch the economy crash as a new president took over.

In one of the ads, Fox defends the fact that he let Congress oppose nearly all of his proposals, saying he must respect all branches of government. Many Mexicans have criticized him for failing to implement his sweeping campaign promises during his term.

"Sure, it would be easy to govern with absolute power. But you didn't elect a king, or a dictator," he insists. "You elected a democratic president. And for you -- although it's harder -- that is what I am, and what I will continue to be."

His speech Thursday to Congress is expected to focus more on what he hasn't done than on what he has.

He'll remind Mexicans that he assumed the presidency without the economic crisis that accompanied other presidential transitions, and that he plans to help his replacement do the same.

He will talk about how he let Mexico develop as an independent democracy, passing freedom of information laws designed to give the public access to government dealings and end corruption.

And he left Congress -- truly independent for the first time and hostile to most of his proposed legislation -- alone.

As for his accomplishments, he points to the strengthening banking sector and increased access to credit, which has put thousands of new cars on the roads and sparked a building boom in Mexico City that has new apartment buildings going up seemingly on every corner.

But for some voters, it isn't enough.

"He promised to bring change and he hasn't done anything," said Alejandro Aguilar, a 25-year-old graphic artist. "We know PRI members were thieves, but at least they got things done."

The interior secretary, briefing reporters on the upcoming speech, refused to say whether Fox would mention ongoing violence along the U.S.-Mexico border, which has prompted U.S. State Department warnings to tourists and near-lawless conditions in the city of Nuevo Laredo, across from Laredo, Texas.

While both countries have pledged to work together to combat drug trafficking and people smugglers along the border, there has been fingerpointing from both sides about who needs to do more.

Aguilar believes Fox simply needs to do more to ensure that people are safe on Mexican streets.

"He has to be able to protect his own people," he said.

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