Mexico's Future

On July 6, a landmark election in Mexico handed significant losses to the country's ruling party for the first time in 70 years. Many analysts regard the election as the most honest in memory and say it has ushered in a new democratic era. Others worry that the ruling PRI party will subvert attempts to make Mexico a full democracy. At the same time, the nation has rebounded from the 1994-95 recession caused by a major devaluation of the peso. Some economists say that free trade and cheap labor should sustain the growth, and that Mexico will soon emerge as the United States' second-biggest trading partner. But critics warn that Mexico's future is clouded by poverty, growing drug-trafficking and illegal immigration.