ROBERT BOSCH

74 - ROBERT BOSCH
On December 1, 1988, Car los Sa linas de Gortari took up of fice
as Cons ti tu tio nal Pre si dent of the Uni ted Me xi can Sta tes. He imme
dia tely fa ced enor mous eco no mic pro blems that he at temp ted
to sol ve through an am bi tious pro gram of mo der ni za tion, through
stimulating ex ports and sup porting free tra de. The sig ning of a
Free Trade Agreement bet ween Me xico, the United States of Ameri
ca and Ca na da [NAFTA] be came one of the most im portant is sues
of eco no mic po licy du ring his ad mi nis tra tion. This agree ment came
in to ef fect af ter mul tiple ne gotiations on Ja nuary 1, 1994. It
was on this day that a re bellion broke out led by the Za patista Na -
tional Li beration Army in the Sta te of Chia pas, de manding better
living con ditions for all the in digenous peo ples of the country.
Wit hin this fra me work of ins ta bi lity, se ve ral vio lent events oc cu -
rred in the country, one of the most sig nificant being the assas si -
na tion of the pre si den tial can di da te for the PRI, Luis Donaldo Co losio
on March 23, 1994. In the se cir cumstances, the can didature fell
to Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León, who as sumed the Pre sidency on
De cem ber 1, 1994.
A few days af ter Doc tor Ze dillo took up the Pre sidency, the
country fa ced a se ve re eco no mic cri sis, cau sed by over va lua tion
of the cu rrency, un dermining the con fidence of both fo reign and
domestic in vestors. Once again Me xico had to re sort to the in ternational
bank to sol ve the pro blem im mediately and allow the fi -
nan cial mar kets res pi te. The eco no mic ca bi net de ci ded to con tinue
with the stream lining of the sta te ap paratus, pro moting the
pri va ti za tion of sta te-owned com pa nies, who se re sour ces would
tem po ra rily alle via te the cri sis. Due to the in ter na tio nal de mands
of glo ba li za tion and the li be ra li za tion of tra de sin ce 1993, Me xi co
has sought to ne gotiate free tra de agree ments with va rious countries,
who se object is to pla ce pri mary and ma nufactured pro -
ducts in di ver si fied mar kets such as Co lom bia and Ve ne zue la,
Cos ta Ri ca, Bo li via, Ni ca ra gua, Chi le, Israel, El Sal va dor, Gua te mala
and Hon duras, the Eu ropean Union and Ja pan.
Du ring the Ze di llo ad mi nis tra tion, the so cial cla mor for democratic
and po litical open ness of the country became a rea lity,
when the can di da te for the De mo cra tic Re vo lu tion Party, Cuauhtémoc
Cárdenas, was elected to the Go vernment of the Fe deral
District of Me xico in Sep tember 1997, fo llowing with a triump hant
pre si den tial elec tion of the can di da te of the Na tio nal Action Party,
Vicente Fox Que zada, who serves from De cember 1, 2000 to November
30, 2006. This elec tion bro ke with the iner tia of se venty
years, du ring which the country was go verned by the Insti tutional
Re vo lu tio nary Party.
The go vern ment un der Vi cen te Fox' lea ders hip has fo cu sed
on ma croe co no mic sta bi lity ini tia ted by his pre de ces sor and seeks
to con trol in flation, re duce the country-risk, im prove both the in -
ternal and external debt pro file, and con trol the pu blic deficit. Just