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DE RUEHME #2753/01 2532127
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R 092127Z SEP 08
FM AMEMBASSY MEXICO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3227
INFO RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/HQ USNORTHCOM
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 MEXICO 002753 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KCRM SNAR ECON EFIN ETRD EINV ELAB
ENRG, EPET, KJUS, SENV, SOCI, MX 
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT CALDERON DELIVERS HIS "STATE OF THE 
UNION" IN WRITING 
 
¶1.   Summary.  President Calderon presented the written 
version of an annual report on the 
&state of the union8 to Congress on September 1.  Over 
prior decades, Mexico's president would deliver this report 
orally to Congress.  Over the summer recess, however, 
Congress passed legislation that amended the Constitution 
dispensing with this tradition and calling on the President 
instead to present the report in writing.  Calderon used the 
report to present a laundry list of his administrations 
accomplishments in the areas of Rule of Law and Public 
Security, Economic Competitiveness and Employment Generation, 
Equal Opportunity, Protection of the Environment, and 
Democratic Effectiveness and Responsible Foreign Policy. 
Separately, he has produced a series of television spot ads 
to present the case for his achievements directly to the 
public.  Congress preserves for itself the right to call on 
the government to address outstanding questions emerging from 
the report. Ironically, however, while the Congress 
eliminated oral delivery of the report to Congress with the 
intention of diminishing the president's stature, as an 
unintended consequence, it has spared the president an 
uncomfortable confrontation with Congress.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  Interior Secretary Juan Camilio Mourino delivered a 
written copy of President Calderon's annual report to 
Congressional leaders on September 1.  The report of over 500 
pages included an executive summary that provided the 
equivalent of a laundry list of the administration's 
achievements over the last year in five different areas 
including  Rule of Law and Public Security,  Economic 
Competitiveness and Employment Generation, Equal Opportunity, 
Protection of the Environment, and Democratic Effectiveness 
and Responsible Foreign Policy . 
 
Rule of Law and Public Security 
 
¶3.  Calderon stressed that security remains his top priority. 
 Describing it as a shared responsibility, he noted the 
importance he attached to joint cooperation amongst the 
different enforcement agencies. He pledged to clean the 
police forces and eliminate corruption through the 
implementation of psychological and drug tests and polygraph 
exams, the latter of which different USG agencies support. 
In his report, he identifies the following as his 
administration's most important initiatives and achievements. 
 
-- Deployed joint operations in the Mexican states of 
Sinoloa, Durango, Chihuahua, Michoacan, Guerrero, Nuevo 
Laredo and Tamaulipas to combat organized crime. 
 
-- Detained several major organized crime leaders including 
Jesus Raul Beltran Uriarte, Alfredo Beltran, and Sandra Avila. 
 
-- Captured over 200 kidnappers and the broke up more than 30 
kidnapping rings. 
 
-- Raised the salaries of army officials by over 40 percent 
and of naval officials by over 57 percent. 
 
-- Provided over 198,000 SEDENA officials human rights 
training. 
 
-- Recruited into SEDENA 723 women in the first half of 2008 
) four times more over the same period in 2007. 
 
-- Created a telecommunications network to link public 
security institutions from all 32 federal entities with a 
centralized criminal information system. 
 
-- Won adoption of judicial reform legislation that will 
strengthen the investigation of organized crime. 
 
-- Forged the Merida Initiative with the U.S. founded on the 
principle of shared responsibility with a view to bilateral 
cooperation in the form of equipment transfer and training. 
 
Economic Competitiveness and Employment Generation 
 
¶4.   Calderon asserted that Mexico's economy remains 
reasonably strong despite the adverse global outlook.   He 
maintained that during his two years in power 800,000 formal 
jobs have been created.  Mexico's 3 percent GDP growth, while 
not sufficient to make a significant dent in poverty, was not 
bad for a global environment characterized by recession and 
high inflation. Calderon highlighted that, outside of Canada, 
Mexico had the lowest inflation in the Americas.   Speaking 
to energy prices, Calderon noted that despite recent 
increases in gasoline and fuel prices, gasoline in Mexico is 
 
MEXICO 00002753  002 OF 004 
 
 
still forty percent cheaper than in the United States. 
 
¶5.  Calderon's report to Congress maintains that the 
government seeks to create opportunities and improve the 
economic welfare of all Mexicans but in particular the most 
impoverished.  To that end, it has sought to generate greater 
economic growth and more employment.  The government has 
focused its efforts in three areas: 1) maintain and 
consolidate macroeconomic stability through sound public 
finance policies; 2) implement structural economic reforms 
that will transform the production apparatus with a long term 
vision; and 3) diversify the basis for economic growth, 
stimulate greater competition, and promote investment in 
different sectors of the economy, including infrastructure, 
tourism, rural regions, housing, and telecommunications. It 
cited the following initiatives and achievements. 
 
-- Maintained low inflation levels on a par with the 
continent's best performers. 
 
-- Won passage of fiscal reform legislation which has helped 
generate a record level of funds dedicated to social 
development ) over $112.5 billion. 
 
-- Sent Congress energy reform legislation. 
 
-- Seek to invest over 5 pct of the country's GDP in 
infrastructure; a record amount of over $48 billion was 
invested in infrastructure in 2007. 
 
-- Seek to transform Mexico into one of the world's principal 
logistic platforms. 
 
-- Constructed and modernized highways with public-private 
investment exceeding $8.1 billion over the administration's 
first two years ) three times what was spent over the first 
two years of the last administration. 
 
-- Extended electric service to over 97.3 percent of the 
population. 
 
-- Extended potable water service to 90.8 percent of the 
population and sewage service to over 86.6 percent of the 
country's population. 
 
-- Attracted $2.5 billion in direct foreign investment with 
the amount coming from the European Union growing from 18 
percent of the total in 2000 to 45 percent in 2007. 
 
-- Registered a 17 percent growth in exports in the first six 
months of 2008 compared with the same period in 2007 and, 
whereas in 2000 only 88.7 percent of Mexico's exports went to 
the U.S., in the first six months of 2008, that number had 
declined to 80 percent.  This is attributed to an increase of 
49 and 42 percent respectively in exports to Europe and Latin 
America. 
 
-- Generated the creation of over 800,000 new jobs from the 
end of 2006 through mid-2008. 
 
-- Helped those affected by food price increases by 
eliminating taxes on grains, reducing tariffs on basic 
products, generating greater domestic productivity, and 
providing direct financial assistance to families in need. 
 
-- Launched a new program to promote the creation of jobs in 
rural areas. 
 
Equal Opportunity 
 
¶6.  The report stresses the administration's commitment to 
improving access to education, health care, decent housing, 
good jobs, and a strong social network.  It identified 
eliminating extreme poverty and closing huge wealth 
disparities as the government's highest priorities in this 
field.  It listed the following as its most important 
initiatives and achievements 
 
-- Combat extreme poverty by strengthening the government's 
&Programa Oportunidades8 which is helping over 5 million 
families. 
 
-- Guarantee access for newborns that don't belong to the 
social security system to doctors, medicine, and clinics. 
 
-- Approved over 266,000 projects to assist impoverish 
families to purchase their own home. 
 
 
MEXICO 00002753  003 OF 004 
 
 
Protection of the Environment 
 
¶7.  The report describes the government's efforts to 
harmonize its development strategies with policies to 
conserve and protect the environment.  Calderon's efforts 
have not attracted much media attention but, by all 
appearances, he is genuinely committed to doing more to 
protect the environment.  His report touted the following 
initiatives and achievements. 
 
-- Planted 9.4 million trees on one day ) July 5, 2008 ) 
with the aid of private citizens and organizations and which 
the government maintains is a record in Latin America. 
 
-- Eliminated the import of gases that damage the ozone layer. 
 
-- Planted more than 253 million trees in 2007 ) one fourth 
of the total established by the UN for the entire world ) 
covering  580,000 hectares or twice the amount of the prior 
year. 
 
-- Invested four times more money in the conservation of 
forests in 2007 than the prior year. 
 
Democratic Effectiveness and Responsible Foreign Policy 
 
¶8.  In seeking to strengthen the country's democratic 
character, the government discusses its efforts to promote 
constructive dialogue with the government's other branches, 
all political parties and civil society.  It proudly notes it 
collaborative efforts with Congress helped produce 
legislation on fiscal, pension and judicial reform.  It also 
boasts of efforts to promote greater transparency and 
accountability through the expansion of access to government 
information. 
 
¶9.  In speaking to its foreign policy, the administration has 
sought to develop strategies to take advantage of 
globalization in a manner consistent with Mexico's interests 
and respectful of its international obligations. 
 
-- It describes Mexico's efforts to consolidate its status as 
an &indispensable actor8 in Latin America allowing it to 
promote regional stability and integration. 
 
-- In March, Mexico assumed the lead of the Rio Group which 
it describes as the &most important organization for 
dialogue in the region.8 
 
-- Mexico also sought to place a discussion of efforts to 
combat organized crime on the agendas of regional meetings. 
 
-- Proyecto Mesoamerica ) formally known as Plan Puebla 
Panama ) represents Mexico's efforts to promote greater 
integration in the fields of electricity, health, the 
environment, and housing in Central America and Colombia. 
 
-- In 2008, the government forged a Strategic Association 
between Mexico and the European Union aimed at promoting 
greater trade and investment between the two. 
 
-- As coordinator of the Group of Five made up of Brazil, 
China, India, South Africa, and Mexico, Mexico promoted more 
meaningful dialogue with the Group of Eight. 
 
-- Mexico has won the support of countries within Latin 
America and the Caribbean for its election in October to the 
UN Security Council for the period 2009-2010. 
 
-- The Merida Initiative provides a framework of cooperation 
for both the U.S. and Mexico to tackle shared challenges in 
combating organized crime. 
 
-- Mexico remains committed to respect for its citizens 
living in the U.S. 
 
Be Careful What You Wish For( 
 
¶10.  In decades past, Mexico's president would deliver this 
report to Congress to much fanfare on a day celebrated as the 
&President's Day.8  A subservient Congress dominated by the 
PRI would applaud the president's list of accomplishments and 
the press would faithfully and uncritically report them in a 
tradition that served only to embellish the president's 
authority.   Of course, that tradition has weakened over 
recent years.  In 2006, protesting the July 2006 election of 
Felipe Calderon, opposition Congressmen blocked outgoing 
President Vicente Fox from entering the Congress to give his 
 
MEXICO 00002753  004 OF 004 
 
 
last report.  Last year, Calderon agreed to present a written 
version of his report but not present it orally so as to 
avoid a similar experience. 
 
¶11.  Seeking to dispel what it perceived as a vestige of an 
era when Mexican politics were dominated by the Mexican 
President who always hailed from the PRI, Congress passed a 
bill this past summer that dispensed with this tradition. 
Under this bill that reforms Mexico's Constitution, the 
President no longer delivers his address orally to the 
Congress.  Instead, he must deliver a copy of the written 
report to Congress on September 1.   The Congress reserves 
for itself the right to request the administration through 
its key cabinet members to address specific concerns either 
in writing or at a Congressional hearing.  If it remains 
unsatisfied, the Congress also reserves the right to call 
upon the President to respond. 
 
¶12.  Comment.  While the opposition introduced this reform as 
a way to diminish the power of the president ) and, in the 
case of the PRD, to deprive Calderon of some measure of his 
legitimacy ) it has also served to spare him what had become 
an unpleasantly confrontational exercise.  Few actually read 
this 500 page tome.  However, nothing prevents Calderon from 
going on television to deliver five minute advertisements 
touting his government's accomplishments as outlined in the 
report.  In this manner, he gets his message out without 
having to face the controversy and criticism which in the 
past overshadowed the report.  No doubt, upon reviewing the 
report, the opposition parties may avail themselves of their 
right to criticize the report and call on him to address 
their concerns.  Or they may be too caught up in debates over 
the budget to give it the time they would like.  Either way, 
their response is not likely to generate the kind of 
publicity as would a response at the time the president 
delivers his report, prompting some to suggest that it is 
only a matter of time before the Congress once again requires 
the President to present his report orally to Congress. 
 
 
. 
Visit Mexico City's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/mexicocity and the North American 
Partnership Blog at http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/nap / 
GARZA