MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Fox admits errors but is satisfied with his administration

Mexican President Vicente Fox admitted that extreme poverty and insecurity are the main unresolved issues that the incoming administration that takes office in 2006 will have to face and address.

"We're on the edge of the fifth anniversary of the triumph of democracy (in July 2000) with serious problems that we still haven't been able to resolve, some of them - such as extreme poverty and insecurity - because it's impossible to solve them in a span of six years", wrote President Fox in "Este Pais" magazine's August issue, which hit the newsstands on Friday.

In the four-page article entitled "My experience at the head of the country" Mr. Fox reviews his administration, errors, good decisions and legacy.

"I'm satisfied with what has been achieved in the more than four years of this administration. Being realistic, we have done all in our power to resolve the country's most pressing problems" he underlined.

However the president blamed Congress for "holding back on the more pressing reforms to fully incorporate the country into the world dynamics" and he complained that "negotiation, which is a normal process in democracies, in Mexico has been very difficult".

President Fox, a conservative, also admitted part of the blame for the problems he will leave to his successor and declared that some unresolved issues "are due to errors in the outlay of public policy".

Presidential elections are set for next year. Mr. Fox is barred by the Constitution from seeking another term.

Mr. Fox described as one of his major achievements was having maintained the country's macroeconomic stability, despite the economic stagnation of the first three years of his term.

Another positive aspect of his administration, according to Mr. Fox, was having ended "the excessive power of the presidency, centralism and the dominance of the state by one party" referring to the Institutional Revolutionary Party, PRI, which had ruled Mexico uninterruptedly for 71 years and whose candidate he defeated in the 2000 presidential election.

"The arrival of democracy has allowed us to change this logic and gradually transform a culture of subjects into one of citizens", he stressed.