Mexican President Felipe Calderon won't be fighting for migration reform when he meets with US President George W. Bush next week. Instead, he will be spelling out what he intends to do to keep Mexicans at home.
Calderon, who was inaugurated on Dec. 1, has pledged to take 100 actions in his first 100 days in office, many of which represent the first steps toward "curing" Mexico's long tradition of illegal migration to the US.
If implemented, his proposals could help transform Mexico from a labor-exporting country with relatively low growth, productivity and wages into an investment-rich, job-producing economy with better living standards for its 107 million people, nearly half of whom still live in poverty.
"We are laying the foundation for a more just, healthy society with better and more equal opportunities for all," he said.
Even a modicum of success for Calderon would improve on the record of his predecessor Vicente Fox, who failed to persuade the US to accept Mexican guest workers and also could not put in place proposed reforms.
Like Fox, Calderon faces powerful Mexican monopolies and oligopolies, union leaders and old-school politicians who have resisted changes to a system that concentrates power and wealth in a small number of hands and blocks attempts to improve competition, lower consumer prices and open the job market to more people.
Calderon has shown he can rally lawmakers and others behind his plans: Congress unanimously passed his federal budget for this year and he has united state governments behind a crackdown on drug trafficking.
Among other things, he has proposed labor, energy and judicial reforms to encourage investment, promote competition and create jobs; improved tax collection to generate more revenue to fight poverty and improve education; universal health care and support for small and medium-size businesses.
"I think he's on the right track, but migration is a long-term problem," said Jorge Chabat, an international affairs expert at the Center for Economic Research and Instruction in Mexico City.
Calderon acknowledges that "curing" migration will take many more than his six years in office.
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