REPOST: El presidente Peña Nieto firma el Pacto por México con el PAN y el PRD

Los partidos de oposición aceptaron el Pacto por México, que incluye 95 compromisos con las primeras acciones del gobierno de Peña Nieto. Este artículo fue subido originalmente en CNN.

A un día de haber tomado posesión como presidente, Enrique Peña Nieto logró firmar con las dos principales fuerzas de oposición y su partido el Pacto por México, el cual incluye el compromiso de apoyar en el Congreso sus primeras acciones de gobierno.

El pacto fue firmado este domingo por los partidos Acción Nacional (PAN), Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), de la Revolución Democrática (PRD) para “privilegiar las coincidencias” y dar fin a la falta de acuerdos.

“Los partidos demuestran que la democracia no se traduce sólo en representación popular. Hoy, demostramos con hechos que la democracia se traduce en acuerdos, negociación permanente y colaboración respetuosa y responsable”, dijo el secretario de Gobernación, Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong, al presentar el pacto.

El documento comprende 95 compromisos englobados en cinco áreas —sociedad de derechos y libertades;  crecimiento económico, empleo y competitividad; seguridad y justicia; transparencia, rendición de cuentas y combate a la corrupción; y gobernabilidad democrática—. Los partidos políticos y el nuevo presidente de México se comprometieron a frenar a los “poderes fácticos” que han obstruido la consolidación democrática e impulsar el desarrollo económico.

La ceremonia, encabezada por Peña Nieto, se llevó a cabo en el Alcázar del Castillo de Chapultepec con los líderes nacionales del PRD, Jesús Zambrano, y del PAN, Gustavo Madero; además de la secretaria general del Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), Cristina Díaz. También estuvieron presentes los coordinadores de bancada de los tres partidos y todos los gobernadores en funciones y electos del país —excepto el actual Jefe de Gobierno del Distrito Federal, Marcelo Ebrard—.

“Es un acuerdo innovador que impone metas precisas y plazos concretos para lograrlas (…) es un acuerdo realista, que detalla las instancias e instrumentos para llevarlo a cabo del papel al terreno de los hechos. Este acuerdo no sustituye ni limita el proceso legislativo. Al contrario. Lo fortalece y abre una nueva vía para encontrar acuerdos y construir mayorías”, dijo el presidente Enrique Peña Nieto sobre la responsabilidad de los involucrados en el pacto para presentar las iniciativas acordadas en el mismo.

Tras tomar posesión como titular del Ejecutivo, Peña Nieto dio este sábado un mensaje a la nación para enlistar las primeras 13 acciones de su gobierno, todas incluidas en los acuerdos del Pacto por México como una reforma educativa, un código penal único para el país, un plan nacional de prevención del delito, mayor competencia en telefonía fija, telefonía celular, servicio de datos y televisión abierta y restringida; o una ley Nacional de Responsabilidad Hacendaria y Deuda Pública para las entidades federativas y municipios.

También se contempla la iniciativa que Peña Nieto entregó a su bancada en el Senado el 10 de septiembre para fortalecer al Instituto Federal de Acceso a la Información Pública (IFAI), crear una Ley de Reparación de Daño por violaciones a Derechos Humanos y promulgar la Ley General de Atención a Víctimas.  

Para el líder de Acción Nacional, Gustavo Madero, aceptar el Pacto por México ahora desde la oposición —su partido dejó de gobernar el país después de 12 años—no elimina las diferencias políticas entre los partidos.

“El PAN reconoce que gran parte de nuestra plataforma y agenda legislativa está contemplada en este acuerdo (…) El Pacto no cancela nuestras diferencias, no condiciona nuestro ejercicio crítico, ni nuestro deber de ser contrapeso y equilibrio frente al nuevo Gobierno. Lo que hace es abrir una gran oportunidad para un momento de unidad nacional”, dijo.

El presidente del PRD, Jesús Zambrano,  dijo que asume el “riesgo” de recibir críticas desde otras agrupaciones de izquierda y de los propios integrantes de su partido por la firma de este acuerdo.

“Sabemos que es un riesgo, sí, pero que vale la pena asumirlo. Son de esos riesgos que vale la pena tomarlos de frente y en nuestras manos. Y el PRD, como principal partido de la izquierda, está claramente decidido a actuar como una izquierda responsable. No le apostamos al desastre en el país, queremos crecimiento, desarrollo económico con democracia y con dignidad social”, dijo.

Este domingo, el secretario general del PRD, Alejandro Sánchez Camacho, informó que la Comisión Política de su partido desconoce el Pacto por México y que iniciaría una revisión “política y jurídica” de la actuación de Zambrano por suscribir un acuerdo sin el aval de las instituciones de dirección del partido.

El sábado, durante la sesión solemne en la Cámara de Diputados por latoma de protesta de Enrique Peña Nieto, el legislador de Movimiento Ciudadano, Ricardo Monreal, rechazó la firma del pacto con un gobierno “ilegítimo” al que su partido acusa de “comprar votos” para ganar la Presidencia.

Otros partidos políticos minoritarios que serán invitados los próximos días a sumarse al pacto son Nueva Alianza, el Partido del Trabajo, —que junto con Movimiento Ciudadano participaron en la coalición Movimiento Progresista con el PRD en los comicios de 2012—; y el Partido Verde Ecologista de México, cuyos coordinadores de bancada estuvieron presentes en la ceremonia de este domingo.

Método de Trabajo

El secretario de Gobernación informó que el Pacto por México contará con un Consejo Rector que tendrá la “responsabilidad de articular las negociaciones centrales, definir objetivos, determinar mesas de trabajo materia y/o reforma, establecer un calendario de trabajo y elaborar las iniciativas de ley que se requieran para someterlas a discusión del Congreso de la Unión”.

Esta comisión tendrá doce integrantes, Enrique Peña Nieto y los dirigentes de cada partido político firmante tendrán derecho a elegir a tres, cada uno.

También habrá una Coordinación Técnica, con un representante por cada firmante, que dará seguimiento a las reuniones del consejo rector y de las mesas de trabajo; pero sobre todo, deberá informar a la opinión pública sobre los acuerdos alcanzados.

Para este pacto sólo se informó de dos reglas: uno, los voceros deberán ser autorizados por las cuatro partes, al igual que la forma de comunicación de los avances; y dos, la coordinación técnica dispondrá de un sitio web www.pactopormexico.org , para interactuar con la sociedad civil.

También se informó que habrá una cuenta oficial en la red social Twitter (@PactoPorMx) y una más en Facebook, que emitirán información oficial en cuando el Consejo Rector y la Coordinación Técnica inicien actividades.

Según Osorio Chong, en el Pacto se incluirán mecanismos de evaluación de resultados en los que participarán “personajes destacados de la sociedad civil”. 

El presidente Peña Nieto invitó a organizaciones de la sociedad civil, investigadores, académicos, líderes sindicales y empresariales y a la sociedad en general a unirse al pacto que dijo, llevará a la “transformación de México”.

Hazte fan de esta página de Facebook para estar actualizado acerca de Enrique Peña Nieto y su trabajo en México.

Boxing: The perfect allegory to "Mexico's moment has come"

Newly inducted Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto declared during his investiture that “The moment has come for Mexico.” The aphorism is a strongly received message, considering the country is touted as the inheritor of Brazil’s impressive economic standing.

Image credit: benzinga.com

Mexico is known less for its achievements than its domestic problems. This is the chip on its emerging image as a world power. One suspects this somehow diminishes its strong showing in other fields, like sports and its feisty cultural heritage. The extent to which these fields have been bolstered is also a good performance indicator. Based on this, Mexico could reaffirm its global importance.

Image credit: latimes.com

Not too many outside of diehard boxing fans know Mexico as the country that has produced the most number of boxing champions. Juan Manuel Marquez’s recent shocker over world champion Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao revived the Latin American country’s historical dominance in the sport.

Mexico as a boxing haven is not a mere empirical assertion, but a flashy cultural truth. Mexican boys dream of being champion boxers the way Venezuelan girls eye a Miss Universe crown. Amateur boxing gloves are regular seventh-birthday gifts. And men rush to the streets to celebrate the wins of their top dogs, in the manner that European football fans express their mania.

Image credit: luxurytravelexpo.wordpress.com

There are probably some facets to Mexico unmarred by its image as a land with unsparing poverty and rabid violence from drug trafficking and organized crime. Playing up these strengths shouldn’t be an unwelcome economic move, either.

Enrique Pena Nieto officially took over the Mexican Presidency last December 1. Get glimpses and updates on his mandate by following this Twitter page.

The feeding tube between US and Mexico

Mexico is the talk of the town, even at this side of the Atlantic. Gone are the days the country was regarded as an economic backwater, with the bulk of its skilled workers jumping borders for quality life.

Enrique Peña Nieto Image Credit: paperblog.com

The Economist’s special report on Mexico actually summarized years of an uphill climb. Still steeped in violence from drug trafficking and organized crime, the country is now the second largest economy in Latin America. And with hints of bitterness it could have eased its initials into BRIC, the bloc of emerging markets that the world looks to as challengers to the usual superpowers.

Enrique Peña Nieto Image Credit: i.telegraph.co.uk

The economic plaudits could only go so far. Mexico is still tied by feeding tube to the United States, host to many of its emigrants. The members of the welcoming committee are in decline, though, as are the Mexicans raring to be welcomed. Back home, industrial complexes hosting Japanese car manufacturers are hiring masses of local workers. But this new development cannot be bookended by the certainty of export markets. While the United States is a premiere trading partner, the superpower still largely looks to China for exports.

Enrique Peña Nieto Image Credit: opencanada.org

There are, however, signs that the economy Enrique Pena Nieto has just inherited last December 1 in his official accession to power will be able to cut the mustard. In other words, whatever potential unloaded onto Mexico in these days when its GDP has been growing at a faster rate than that of Brazil’s could unfold into an investor’s dream. The large Hispanic populations in the United States could very well guarantee an exodus into this promising land, predicted to be the one of the 10 largest economies of the world in good time. Whether that will happen with its exports fettered to the United States or not is a matter of continuing free trade agreements.

Read more about Mexico from this Twitter page.

Apocalypse never: Mexico’s economy moves beyond Mayan predictions

Mexico as the seat of apocalyptic soothsaying seems at present an incongruous image. Could the Mayans have predicted that, way past 2012, Mexico could turn up the economic ignition and be the opposite of doomsday? Archaeologists overblowing the Mayan excavations could have battled with statistics, although these would have found little room on a stone tablet.

Enrique Peña Nieto Image Credit: opencanada.org

Come to a nation’s fate, there are many figures left to inscribe. First, with declining fertility rates, its population is not spinning out of control. Second, the new President, Enrique Pena Nieto, is embarking on a mission to push the country’s GDP growth rate to 6%. Lastly, all the lower manufacturing costs in Mexico, such as wages, fuel, and maintenance, have transformed it into a hotbed of industrial expansion.

Enrique Peña Nieto Image Credit: i.telegraph.co.uk

The only thing that could spell doomsday for the land of the Mayans comes by its own hand. Reducing criminality has never been the country’s strongest suit, regardless of who had been in charge the past few decades. Both Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderon, Pena Nieto’s predecessors, have staked their own solutions to organized crime and drug trafficking. The next regime, which represents a resurgence to power by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), is expected to stow from foolhardy aggression and kid gloves in curbing violence.

Enrique Peña Nieto Image Credit: voanews.eu

From the point of view of social progress, Mexico’s challenges could come to a head amid economic expansion. With rampant poverty out of the way, Mexico could move on from being once tagged as a potential “failed state,” the real apocalypse, ever the case.

Be more updated about Mexican events from this Facebook page.

Enrique Pena Nieto addresses Mexican street violence

Drug traffickers and criminal warlords may wreak the most gruesome organized crimes in the country, but Mexican President-elect Enrique Pena Nieto casts street violence as an underestimated social cancer.

Enrique Pena Nieto Image Credit: i.telegraph.co.uk

Throughout his campaigns, he was frequently heard condemning street crimes that beget more violence. Mexico, much like Colombia and Venezuela, has often been depicted for its desensitization to its own crime rates. Few know the sources of bloody impunity, always attributed to powerful clans who control the narcotics trade and carry out shady operations.

Little is often said in the press about the small guns of petty village crimes. In another vein, they are the clichéd results of rampant poverty and a stark cultural valorization of honor.

Enrique Pena Nieto Image Credit: 2.bp.blogspot.com

However, the vast network of organized crimes has blurred the distinction between petty and deep-seated. The logic of Enrique Pena Nieto’s campaign could work both ways. By curtailing the access of organized crimes to the small players and informal village armies, he is also showing an attempt to hack away at the biggest criminals.

The problem may be more complex than this solution, but so are motherhood statements about what Mexico needs to overcome its social malaises. Cutting poverty may not be enough to cut off the entrenched systems of organized crime, nor dissuade common folk from benefiting from the narcotics trade.

Enrique Pena Nieto Image Credit: gdb.voanews.eu

The plate is looking full for Enrique Pena Nieto, who officially turns president on December 1st. Follow more of his plans on this Facebook page.

Enrique Pena Nieto: No negotiations with organized crime

Enrique Pena Nieto Image Credit: jornada.unam.mx

In Mexico, rampant violence is a by-product of several social malaises that new President Enrique Pena Nieto has to snuff out with immediate results. His predecessor, Felipe Calderon, has alienated the population with his violent crackdown on suspected drug dealers. The death toll from such adventurism had cost President Pena Nieto some buying time to introduce reforms.


Subduing narcotrafficking is one of his campaign’s more ambitious sound bites. The layers on this problem, however, won’t yield to linear measures, especially bilateral diplomacy. Rooted within its virulent reach is the vast influence of organized crime, which controls both legitimate and underworld businesses. Narcotrafficking is just one of the mob’s feeding tubes.

Enrique Pena Nieto Image Credit: m5.paperblog.com

State forces such as the police and military have also been regularly accused of coddling organized crime, while the mingling of politics and business has provided a passage for nurturing a symbiosis with the mob. Enrique Pena Nieto has vowed to put his foot down on this special relationship, issuing a strident statement that there will be neither “a truce” nor “a compromise” with organized crime.


The rise in violence in Mexico and in Central America has sparked comparative discussions on effective solutions. International opinions have been urging Mexico to consider peace talks with organized crime, patterned after a recent incident in El Salvador where a truce has been brokered between young, murderous marauders and a local village bishop. Crime rates were reported by Le Monde to have fallen 50% since.

Enrique Pena Nieto Image Credit: opencanada.org

But with Mexico’s President-elect sternly countenanced against this suggestion, there is an assumption of all-out war among his preferred solutions. Rather, it may be the only option around if visible results are expected.


Read more about Enrique Pena Nieto’s presidency on this Twitter page.

Enrique Pena Nieto and the taxing path toward fiscal reforms

With Mexican Congress convening this month, President-elect Enrique Pena Nieto should be preparing a defense of his proposed reforms, particularly the ones that handed him top position in the Latin American state.

Enrique Pena Nieto | Image credit: en.paperblog.com

The most painful could be the fiscal ones slated for Congressional introduction. A critical snag would be for when his party fails to gather majority in upcoming legislative elections. Barring that, the fiscal front should be part of the new administration’s strategy to spur economic growth and nurture its underperforming oil and gas sector. While declaring openness for the influx of foreign-owned businesses in key industries, a series of fiscal measures should release a huge percentage of the country’s tied up energy revenues.

Enrique Pena Nieto | Image credit: theecologist.org

Enrique Pena Nieto’s camp has also been vocal about a reinvigorated business tax, which could target growing industries such as telecom, media, and construction. International competitiveness in these industries, according to claims of the Pena Nieto camp, could be coupled with a business tax aligned with global standards. This presents an opportunity for the new administration to rake in additional revenues to pump back into building a more business-friendly environment.

Such measures could either raise vigorous opposition immediately or invite eager investors. Mexico’s economy is considered bouncy of late, with modest GDP growth and a relatively surefooted finance industry. Tax reforms are always a scary bug-a-boo, but the necessary political will should unleash their good effects.

Enrique Pena Nieto | guardian.co.ukPena Nieto

For more updates on Enrique Pena Nieto’s presidency, visit this are posted in this Facebook page.