Politics across the border

The video feed was jerky and the sound was sometimes low, but
for Luisa Martínez, it was an experience to be remembered.

Martínez, a fourth-year mechanical engineering student, was
one of about 15 members of the UCLA Community who came to the
Anderson School of Management Friday to participate in a video
conference with Felipe Calderón, a Mexican politician who
recently won a primary election to be a candidate in Mexico’s
2006 presidential election in July.

“It’s incredible, not even students from Mexico have
this opportunity,” said Martínez, who grew up and
completed high school in Mexico.

Calderón is a member of Mexico’s National Action
Party, or PAN. PAN is also the party of current Mexican president
Vicente Fox, who will not run in the 2006 election.

Responding to questions from both a Mexican audience and the
participants of the UCLA event, which was sponsored by the UCLA
International Institute and the Latin American Center,
Calderón spent part of the meeting outlining how he would deal
with challenges such as the possibility of ruling with a
legislative minority and Mexico’s high crime rate if he is
elected. But he also touched on issues that resonate north of the
border, such as violence against women, immigration and drug
trafficking.

Violence against women is widespread in Mexico: in 2003, 10,949
women died in Mexico as a result of violence, according to a Nov.
25 article in the La Opinion, a Los Angeles-based Spanish-language
newspaper.

And more than 400 women have been murdered in the cities of
Juarez and Chihuahua since 1993, according to Amnesty International
USA.

Speaking in Spanish, Calderón said he would combat domestic
violence by working to change the perception that violence in the
home is outside the reach of government.

Noting that one in five Mexican women is abused at least once in
her life, Calderón said if he is elected his administration
would work to “eradicate” what he sees as
“tolerant attitudes” toward domestic violence.

Calderón also called for cooperation from United States
security agencies such as the FBI to deal with issues of frontier
security and crime, such as the murders of women that have plagued
the city of Juarez, which lies across the border from El Paso,
Texas.

“We need, we urge, and we demand higher responsibility on
the part of the authorities from the United States” to do
their part in stopping crime on the frontiers, Calderón
said.

The border is also a site of interest in the debate over illegal
immigration into the United States, and its deserts claim hundreds
of lives each year as people try to cross illegally from Mexico to
the United States.

Calderón said legal opportunities for Mexican laborers to
work in the United States ““ at least seasonally ““ could
reduce the number of Mexican lives lost in attempted border
crossings.

He also said he would push for gradual agreements that would
improve conditions for Mexican workers in the United States,
pointing toward proposals by senators John McCain, R-Ariz., and
Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., which would give workers visas for up to
six years, after which they would either have to leave the country
or be in the process of getting a green card.

When speaking about specifically Mexican issues, Calderón
distanced himself from Fox by proposing a way to avoid the pitfalls
of his compatriot’s administration such as attempting to rule
with a legislative minority.

When Fox was elected in 2000, his party did not win a majority
in the Mexican Congress, and his administration was often stalled
as a result, said Ruben Hernandez-Leon, a UCLA professor of
sociology who served as moderator for the UCLA portion of the
conference.

Calderón said he hopes to be elected and have a legislative
majority, but he would consider forming a coalition government if
he is elected but his party has a minority in the Mexican
Congress.

“If the majority doesn’t come from the (voting)
urns, I will form a coalition government,” he said, noting
that the details of such a novel arrangement would have to be
worked out if it is necessary.

Calderón promised that, if he is elected, his
administration would improve Mexico’s security at many
levels. He said he would “purify” the nation’s
police forces “from top to bottom,” create a single
service to keep track of criminal information and form a single
federal police force in order to make his nation safer.

“The fight against delinquency … is a war, and you win
wars with strategy, with resources and with technology,” he
said, adding that information is an essential resource.

Another important part of the fight against crime is getting
citizens to participate in the process and share the information
that they have about criminals, and in order to facilitate this
confidence, the perception of the government and its efficiency
must also be improved, Calderón added.

After the hour-long discussion, some UCLA audience members said
they were impressed by Calderón’s candor.

“This was a great opportunity to see what he had to say on
the various issues,” said Hernandez-Leon. “He provided
a very interesting response in terms of modernizing.”

Martínez expressed a similar sentiment.

She supported Calderón before the event, and afterwards she
said her ideas about the candidate were confirmed.

“He went to the point,” she said.
“That’s what I like about this candidate.”

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