By
The Associated Press
DURANGO, Mexico - Just days after he found out his phones had been tapped, president-elect Vicente Fox says he foresees possibly violent resistance to his plans to reform Mexico's corruption and crime-riddled government.
Fox, who ended the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party's 71-year grip on power in the July elections, has hit the ground working - and is already feeling the heat - three months before he takes office Dec. 1.
"We have to foresee scenarios where hidden, hard-line groups oppose our project, some because they are criminals, others for political revenge, others because we are going to affect their interests," Fox says.
"Of the three sources of resistance, I expect the criminals to be the toughest, especially the drug traffickers," Fox told The Associated Press in an interview aboard the official jet carrying him on a his latest pre-inauguration working tour.
Just days before, transcripts of telephone conversations between Fox and a top adviser turned up in a local newspaper, revealing that his phones had been tapped during the presidential campaign. Government security agencies have denied involvement in the wiretapping.
Preparing for the day's events, Fox's domestic political adviser, Santiago Creel, joked from across the plane's aisle, "Is the meeting with or without recording devices?"
Despite the workaday atmosphere aboard the plane, Fox knows it is no joking matter.
"I have absolutely no fear, and I hope none of the members of my Cabinet have any, because we are going to need strength, courage and commitment.''
Mexico is a major route for cocaine entering the United States from Colombia, producing powerful gangs that have corrupted branches of government, and factions within the outgoing government may resist ceding the benefits of power. Fox made fighting deep-rooted corruption a focus of his campaign.
Fox has other worries on his mind: Mexico's currency, the peso, is too strong relative to the dollar for his liking. He wants to ease the value of the peso downward, while avoiding the sharp devaluations that have occurred in each new presidency for decades.
He's also worried about high oil prices. They are earning Mexico about $4 billion in extra income this year, but also threaten to spark a recession in developed nations, and that would hurt markets for Mexico's manufacturing exports.
Fox says he would like to see oil drop to "a fair price" of between $20 and $30 per barrel. Prices currently stand at above $30.
But his main focus remains - as always in Mexican politics - the United States. He'd like to travel there in November to speak with the winning U.S. presidential candidate.
"We have to make the United States understand the risks it runs if it doesn't act" to help finance Mexico's development and ease immigration tensions, Fox says.
Fox says he will present to U.S. officials a "dark scenario of immigration, poverty and drug trafficking" and a "positive scenario of a peaceful, secure Mexico with development."
At home and abroad, he faces doubters.
Fox was tripped up when local media revealed that his advisers are already receiving generous government salaries of up to $90,000 per year, even though they aren't yet formally part of the government.
"Maybe he (Fox) will be less corrupt and more honest, but he's also more inept" than the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, said party member Fausto Mendivil.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist Rudiger Dornbusch, a guru of past Mexican policy-makers, told local media that Fox "has no idea, no team and no control of congress. There are enormous expectations, but we'll see what we've always seen - it's easy to win but hard to govern."
Fox's National Action Party did not win a majority in the legislature in July's election.
But Fox's team of about a dozen advisers are at least earning their salaries. Fox himself - who hasn't accepted a wage - speaks almost nonstop about his plans to modernize Mexico's economy.
Fox starts his 13-hour meeting with visiting U.S. lawmakers, then flies to a meeting with governors from central Mexico.
Later, in the northern city of Durango, they are met by crowds of Tepehuano Indians who ask Fox to resolve disputes over land rights.
Even though Fox has no legal authority yet, the Tepehuanos in cowboy hats and wide-sleeved embroidered blouses approach him with a reverence, handing him documents and cheering him on.
Hard work is Fox's prescription for Mexico. What most impresses him, he says, "is the feeling that people here are willing to buckle down and work."
