Law & order: Fox is targeting government corruption and drug cartels and getting results. (Politics).

After his first year in office, President Vicente Fox is finally learning to play the political game by prioritizing government programs to improve mid-term congressional election prospects in 2003. More specifically, given the complicated political scenario in Congress, where the executive has been unable to advance its reform agenda, the president is focusing on different areas of concern to make headway on issues that do not require legislative approval.

In December 2001, Fox first announced this intended shift in focus to combat organized crime and high-level public-sector corruption. Both issues are charged with enormous social expectations that were generated a year ago by the change of party in power. Ultimately, the aim is to increase the administration's waning popularity, thus giving the president's own National Action Party (PAN) a better shot in congressional elections further down the road.

NARCO NABBING

In recent weeks, the Attorney General's office, and particularly the army, in close collaboration with U.S. authorities, have struck devastating blows against local drug cartels. The arrest of Benjamin Arellano Felix, from the Tijuana Cartel, and of Adan Medrano of the Gulf Cartel are definite bonuses for Fox's administration and its fight against drug gangs. With these arrests, the government has broken with previous administrations' efforts in this area, whereby one cartel was attacked while others became strengthened.

These events also serve to amend the deteriorated prestige of the Mexican army resulting from the release of new information concerning the so-called dirty war against political adversaries during the 1960s and 1970s. It also helps fulfill central areas of the U.S.-Mexico bilateral agenda, and responds to the concerns of investors and of society-at-large who are demanding greater security and less criminal impunity.

In summary, Fox's government, more than any previous administration, has demonstrated unparalleled levels of success in the fight against drug traffickers, all in the last 15 months. This translates into greater legitimacy for the President and his team. However, to guarantee that these achievements result in greater support at the polls in the 2003 mid-term elections, the government will have to demonstrate its ability to combat another major security problem--kidnapping.

WEEDING OUT

In the Pemex corruption scandal, the Secretariat of Control and Administrative Development (Secodam) denounced the embezzlement of some $1.5 billion pesos by Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), which presumably went into Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) coffers to fund the presidential campaign of Francisco Labastida in 2000.

It is worth noting that throughout the investigations, the government has acted responsibly by respecting the appropriate institutional and judicial procedures. Moreover, Fox has refrained from making the case a major political scandal or vendetta against the PRI.

The result will undoubtedly be a substantial blow to the old priista ruling class and a tremendous accomplishment for the Fox administration in terms of government transparency and corruption. Furthermore, the crackdown also helps generate greater investor confidence in Mexico.

There are various circumstances that have favored the government's efforts in these areas: First of all, there is the increased support from the U.S. government in the fight against drug trafficking. Secondly, we have the rise of Roberto Madrazo to become PRI president. Madrazo belongs to the party faction that happens to oppose the one involved in the scandal, and this too, has facilitated the process.

So, if the administration manages to build on these accomplishments, Fox will undoubtedly enjoy greater influence in the process of electing PAN candidates for Congress, as well as higher voter popularity. In the meantime, these achievements have strengthened the executive branch's position before Congress, which hitherto has been critical of the government's slow pace at bringing about change.

Joel Estudillo Rendon is a member of the board of the Mexican Institute for Political Studies.