15 minutes with...Vicente Fox.

The president speaks his mind on Subcomandante Marcos, tax reform and the country's economic growth

With the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) stealing the headlines and setting the issues, and a controversial fiscal reform proposal about to hit Congress in coming weeks, President Vicente Fox could be sitting on a political time bomb. The upcoming battles could bring an early grave to his administration's fundamental reform targets.

To its credit, the new administration has undoubtedly striven to appease the EZLN since taking office in December 2000. Among other moves, the president has forwarded the Indigenous Rights and Culture Law to Congress, scaled back the military presence in Chiapas and released dozens of imprisoned Zapatista militants.

Whether Congress and Marcos can negotiate a workable deal for indigenous communities, and Fox can hammer out his fiscal reform plan with Congress, remains to be seen.

BUSINESS MEXICO had the opportunity to sit down with President Fox to find out his interpretation of the political crossroads to come.

What's next in the Chiapas saga?

Well, I hope the Zapatistas are received in Congress, so that will be the start of a new phase of dialogue, ideas and intelligent discussions. So, I'm waiting for Congress and the Zapatistas to decide where they will meet and what the agenda is going to be. And once that is in motion, then we come in and try to get our own dialogue working. This would certainly mean us complying with some of the other conditions that the Zapatistas have placed.

What is your own personal opinion of Subcomandante Marcos?

Well, I don't know about him. And I don't really care too much about that. What I care about is the cause, the cause of the indigenous people in Mexico. We have 10 million indigenous people in Mexico, 10 million brothers and sisters. And I do care about them. I have government plans for them, and I'm going to make sure that in these next six years, we pay back all the forgetfulness that we have had for them, all the discrimination, all the exclusion. I will make sure that in these next years they will be included in the nation's development.

Does Marcos' anti-globablization ideology worry you?

Marcos does not seem to realize that the Berlin Wall in Mexico fell down on July 2, that we now have a democratic government--a government that is highly supported by the people. It is a government with moral authority and legitimacy. This does not seem to be clear in the mind of Marcos. Concerning his ideology: It is clearly anti-global, anti neoliberalism. It is an ideology well-entrenched in the 20th Century and not present in most of the world today.

Evangelicals are a small but growing minority in Chiapas. What is your message to them, and to other religious minorities in Chiapas?

My position is for total freedom of religion. Evangelicals know about my position and they have my support as well as any other church in Mexico.

One of the first things you did as president was forward the Indigenous Rights Bill to Congress, so why is Marcos so reluctant to support your efforts?

That is exactly the question--whether Marcos really wants peace. He doesn't have much time left to make sure that we come to the negotiations table for dialogue so that we can have this peace agreement. In all his messages to Mexicans, indigenous people and foreigners, he has committed himself to peace. So I'm waiting for that to come true. On my side the commitment is total and firm. And I would also say that our recently won democracy is also a test and proof, because we need to demonstrate that this democracy has the capacity to digest and process all kinds of conflicts and all kinds of political problems that may arise. I think this Zapatista march, and the way this issue has been dealt with by the government and society, means that we do have a real democracy today in Mexico.

Changing the theme, there's been a lot of controversy about the proposed tax on food and medicine. Can you please explain the benefits of this proposal and how the government intends to compensate the poor?

We will raise the fiscal income needed precisely to combat poverty in Mexico, to build up the universities, the schools, the hospitals that we need, also to build up roads and infrastructure. This reform will also give the country the necessary resources we need to expand and grow at rates of 7%. The only way we can do that is through fiscal reform. At the same time it will insure that we no longer have a fiscal deficit. We will have total control and discipline over the fundamentals of the economy, making it strong and successful.

How will your proposed fiscal reforms help business, both large and small, foreign and domestic?

Fiscal reform will lower tax rates, revenue tax rates, so that businesses have an incentive to invest, to expand and to grow. Internationally what we would get with this is a strong currency and a well-balanced economy, making Mexico the best place to invest in the world. If we add to the fiscal reform the case of having trade agreements with the two largest markets in the world, Mexico will become the place with the highest return on investment.

Tell us about your plans concerning private investment--obviously necessary for GDP growth. How exactly are you going to attract more investment to the country, and what in your eyes are the main obstacles for doing that?

The country itself is very attractive for investment, because of the high return you get. But we will also go out and promote. I will be traveling throughout the world. I have a trip to Asia planned, I'm going down to Colombia and Venezuela. I will be traveling to Europe. All these trips will be to promote and make sure investors learn about Mexico being a place of high return for investment.

James Blears is a Mexico City-based freelance reporter.