A top PRI official says he expects to be gone by fall. The other ambitious plank of Fox's platform is to tackle the underlying causes of the migrant flow that sends over a half-million Mexicans to the United States each year in search of jobs. In return, says Fox adviser Jorge Casta eda, Mexico would consider punitive measures to deter migration, such as denying government benefits to families whose men have headed north. Out of poverty. Tensions over border issues have been inflamed in recent months as U.S. vigilantes target migrants trespassing on their property.
Mexican television runs stories nightly on rough handling of migrants at U.S. hands.
Already this year 400 Mexicans have died attempting to cross the border, dying of dehydration in the scorching desert or drowning in the Rio Grande. The new governments both in Mexico and the United States will have every incentive to seek a more cooperative relationship. Businessmen on both sides of the border want it, and the financial markets greeted Fox's victory with euphoria. His pledges to eliminate Mexico's deficit by 2004 and double foreign investment would not only please them but also help lift 40 million of 97 million Mexicans out of poverty. Fox's big plans mirror his view of himself as a pivotal transition leader like Mikhail Gorbachev, Lech Walesa, and Nelson Mandela, all of whom he has invited to his December inauguration.