Opening Mexico: The Making of a Democracy
By Julia Preston and Samuel Dillon
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
HC, 594 pg. US$30/C$45
ISBN: 0-3742-2668-7

The imperfect democracy

By Steven Martinovich
web posted July 5, 2004

Although the world is transfixed by the experiment in democracy
currently underway in Iraq, the same experiment took place
much closer to home for those in the United States. Although the
world largely ignored the momentous event, Mexico elected its
first democratic government in 2000 with Vincente Fox's victory
over Francisco Labastida. It was the first time since the early
20th century that the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) was
not in control of the federal government.

As Julia Preston and Samuel Dillon relate in Opening Mexico:
The Making of a Democracy, the fight for democracy began
several decades ago. Since 1929 Mexico had essentially been a
one-party state under the control of the PRI. Believing that it was
the only party able to protect the legacy of the Mexican
revolution, the PRI gradually insinuated itself into every aspect of
Mexican life in an attempt to hold on to power. Although Mexico
maintained the veneer of a free nation, it was in essence a
dictatorship.

The battle against the PRI's domination of Mexican society
gained steam in 1968 when student protests began to rock the
country. The régime's response -- a massacre of student radicals
-- only served to galvanize opposition. Although the repressive
government managed to keep a lid on the country, the nation's
intellectual leaders redoubled their efforts. They began to
challenge the government on every front -- whether it was
election reform, the handling of the economy or the incredible
level of corruption -- and occasionally managed to win small
victories.

Those small victories encouraged opposition parties to seriously
challenge the PRI's hegemony at the polls and starting in the
1980s they began to claim bigger election victories, though many
of them were negated by the PRI's massive election frauds.
Aiding them was the increasing exasperation of ordinary
Mexicans with the failure of the PRI to fulfill its pledges to bring
the alleged benefits of single party rule to population that was
becoming more sophisticated. The greatest impetus to change,
however, may have come from within the PRI itself.

Ernesto Zedillo was never supposed to be president. Thanks to
constitutional problems with other candidates, Carlos Salinas
was practically forced to name Zedillo his successor. The bland
politician proved to be a reformer and brought about many of the
changes that enabled Fox's victory just six years later. Fighting
battles against hardline PRI members and eventually alienating
powerful factions in his own party, Zedillo forced fundamental
changes that didn't go as far as opponents wanted, nonetheless
weakened the PRI enough to give other parties a realistic shot at
power.

Of course, the intellectual and political elite of Mexico weren't
the only players in the country's move to democracy. Opening
Mexico also chronicles the work of ordinary Mexicans who
were moved to challenge the system for their own personal
reasons and events which placed pressure on the régime, such as
the uprising in Chiapas and the frequent economic turmoil
Mexico has suffered. Preston and Dillon illustrate that it was a
number of different forces that contributed to the political
opening of Mexico.

"We met people from all levels of life who were participating in
this grand endeavor. Citizen activists were battling vote fraud.
Human rights observers were curbing the abuses of the security
forces. Grassroots communities were blocking the devastation of
forests and beaches by corporations. Journalists were
investigating malfeasance.  Neighbourhood groups were
mobilizing to demand prosecution of criminal gangs and corrupt
police."
 
Opening Mexico shouldn't be considered the final authority on
Mexico's awakening -- it's treatment of the economic aspect of
freedom is nowhere near as fleshed out as the political side --
but it is an excellent introduction to those new to the intricacies of
Mexican politics. That story, of course, is ongoing and the
ultimate success of the peaceful revolution has yet to be judged.
Thanks to Preston and Dillon we have a fascinating glimpse into
the opening chapters of Mexican democracy.

Steven Martinovich is a freelance writer in Sudbury, Ontario,
Canada.

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