Journalist Julia Preston spoke Tuesday night on the successes and failures of democracy in Mexico, and America's responsibility to the country, as part of the Foreign Affairs Symposium.
Preston is currently working as deputy investigations editor for the New York Times, and worked for both the Times and the Washington Post as a correspondent in Mexico for over a decade. She is part of a Pulitzer Prize winning team, and received the Maria Moors Cabot Prize for distinguished coverage of Latin America.
Preston also co-wrote the 2004 book Opening Mexico, which described the triumph of democracy in the 2000 election of Mexican president Vicente Fox.
Preston argued that the future of democracy in Mexico is uncertain. Though Fox's victory was certainly a success, she reasoned, recent developments have threatened democracy and have been met with little response from the United States.
"We have a crisis in Mexican democracy, and at the same time, a major lost opportunity for the United States," Preston stated.
Preston was speaking about the recent move by the Mexican Congress to strip Mexico City Mayor Lopez Obrador of his political immunity from prosecution, a rarely used move called "disafuero."
The Congress is blaming Obrador for his 2003 breach of a court order by building an access road to a city hospital through a disputed plot of land.
Though he was only remotely involved in the situation, the Mexican Congress, with the help of the Mexican justice system, is using the opportunity in an attempt to remove Obrador from power.
"He is being targeted, though he didn't make the decision that led to the building of the road. We expect that the justice system will have the role of resolving these disputes, but here, the justice system turned a small civil dispute into a major criminal issue," Preston said.
Congress has made this move against Obrador because he is considered the favorite to win the Mexican presidency in July of 2006. He is extremely popular in Mexico City, which has historically been a very difficult place for politicians to win over.
"He is actually doing what the people of Mexico City elected him to do," Preston said.
Preston warned that this latest undemocratic move could have a severe impact on democracy in Mexico. "Mexico has made a major step forward, but it is currently a very young and unstable democracy," she said.
In July 2000, Vicente Fox defeated Francisco Labastida of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which had been in power for over 70 years in Mexico.
However, his party, the National Action Party (PAN) party, teamed up with the PRI in the Mexican Congress to press charges against Mayor Obrador and his surging leftist party.
"He [Fox] has turned into a disappointment," Preston said, "all of the skills of working in a democracy - he really doesn't have those."
While the election of Fox was a success, the Mexican justice system, which Preston argued is essential for a democracy, has failed. The pending arrest of Obrador, and a situation in the city of Ciudad Juarez involving over 100 unsolved murders, stand out as particular failures of the current justice system.
Preston argued that a dramatically reformed election system combined with the lack of a solidly functioning justice system is a sign that Mexico is in an unstable and uncertain situation. She criticized the American government for ignoring this issue in Mexico.
"We have a democracy right on our borders, and they did it themselves without bloodshed or wars. There has been no recognition by the U.S. of the dimension of this accomplishment in Mexico," she said.
Preston argued that the United States should be more involved in promoting Mexican democracy.
She cited a comment made by president Bush early in his presidency in which he said that the United States has no more strategic relationship than with Mexico.
She said the United States should pay more attention to Mexico because it is one of our largest trading partners and we share a very long border.
"If there is a steep decline in the Mexican economy, it will have a devastating effect in the southwestern United States," she said.
Finally, Preston spoke about immigration, which has lately been a controversial topic in American politics.
"Not only do we have a very long border, but it divides economies that are so disparate. A new bilateral discussion about immigration reform is way overdue in this country," she said.
She complimented the Bush administration for trying to give immigrants temporary visas to work in the United States, but said that the time limit attached to them - only a few years - would simply delay the problem and not solve it.
Preston said that eventually immigration will be accepted in the United States.
"There is a willing worker and a willing employer," she said.
