LETTER TO OUR READERS.

Dear Readers,

Journalists could hardly have hoped for a more exciting month than March, both in the economic and political realms. The arrival in Mexico City of the EZLN, the Pemex restructuring, the troubles at the PGR, hysteria over the summer hour change and the furious congressional backlash to President Fox's fiscal reform plan even before its presentation are only a few of the stories that keep us glued to the TV news.

Whether you support Fox and his proposals or not, his current dilemmas warrant, if not sympathy, than curiosity at how he is going to pull it all off Never has a president of Mexico held such wide popular appeal but at the same time, wielded so little real power. Look at what he faces in Congress: The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) are blocking, on principle, nearly all of his proposals, and he has a strained, distant relationship with his own National Action Party (PAN). We can imagine what he and his Cabinet members are saying to eachother: Our reforms are at the mercy of a sullen child whose sweets have been taken away (PRI), a direction-less group grasping at populist sentiment (PRD) and a party suspicious and jealous of its own son success (PAN).

Of course, they'd only say that under their breath, with microphones off. After all, a divided Congress is what democracy is all about, and the president would be the first to heartily proclaim that in one of his omnipresent TV or radio spots.

This month's issue is full of in-depth analysis of all of these goings-on and the challenges the administration faces. Our "15 minutes with" section brings you Fox in his own words, our cover story delves in-depth into the Pemex restructuring and features an interview with Raul Munoz, and our article on the Zapatour ("Last stop?") features a brief interview with the masked Marcos himself Also, don't miss our reports on the Cintra breakup and sale, and a current toxic-waste scandal that has shone an unflattering spotlight on Mexico s' environmental enforcement woes.

Catherine Craddock

Editor