The World Affairs Council of Western Michigan hosted the fourth in a series of lectures this winter at Aquinas College on Monday. The February 26th forum was entitled "Mexico: Calderon's First 100 Days," which featured three panelists - Vicente Sanchez-Ventura (Consul of Mexico in Detroit), Khedeja Gadhoum, a GVSU professor and Manuel Chavez who teaches at MSU. The introduction was given by State Rep. John Jellema who did acknowledged that there was a substantial debate about the validity of last year's Presidential Elections, but that polling shows that Mexico's President Felipe Calderon has about a 60% approval rating.

Mr. Sanchez-Ventura spoke first and identified what he thought were the five main priorities of Calderon - 1) The Rule of Law - which meant dealing with drug trafficking, street violence and politically unstable areas like Oaxaca; 2) The Economy - which translated as reducing public debt and unemployment, stressing the importance of small businesses, and legal reforms important for these things to happen; 3) Equal opportunities - where the government is attempting to offer equal opportunities to the poor in health, education, and culture; 4) Systems Level Development, which he didn't specify, and: 5) Democracy - which meant to include all parties in national legislative agenda and foster better relationship with United States. He also mentioned immigration as an important issue but did not state what the Calderon administration will do to address that issue.

The other panelists addressed these issues as well, especially the "rule of law." Calderon has begun to crack down on drug trafficking by sending thousands of Mexican soldiers to several north states, but as independent journalist John Ross points out the focus is on street level dealers, not the big drug cartels. This translates into arresting and incarcerating the poor. The other aspect of the rule of law that the panelists addresses was with civil unrest in places like Oaxaca and Chiapas. Mr. Sanchez-Ventura said of Oaxaca "it's an important situation for national security." He also acknowledged "there have been some human rights violations" and that the movement in Oaxaca is "dangerous to Mexico." Professor Gadhoum said "It started with a peaceful protest of teachers and became a social movement. Now many are concerned about Calderon's use of the federal police and military." Professor Chavez said that there is a "75% approval of military and federal actions in Oaxaca according to polls," citing the mainstream media in Mexico. This seems to contradict much of what the independent media in Mexico and sources like Narco News are saying about Oaxaca.

Another major theme from the panelists was the economy. The panel members mentioned the need for increased trade and for more foreign investment, while arguing that stability and security would help the economy and that Calderon had a "clear economic plan." There was also some mention of Mexico's relationship with the Big 3 US car companies and Professor Chavez asked the question "Is there a possibility of Mexico and Michigan establishing an agreement since Mexico is 2nd largest trading partner of Michigan?" NAFTA was also mentioned by the panelists with Prof. Gadhoum wondering if Calderon will revisit NAFTA in light of the prevelance of maquiladoras (sweatshops). In response to her question, Mr. Sanchez-Ventura said that while he thinks NAFTA should be revisited "the Results of NAFTA have been positive for both the US and Mexico." It was unfortunate that more time was not spent talking about the negative consequences of NAFTA which are widely known. Also omitted from the discussion on the economy was the decision by Calderon to raise the price of Mexican staples like tortillas. These price increases have resulted in major demonstrations in Mexico City and in other parts of the country. Additionally, there was no mention of Calderon's actions at the recent World Economic Forum. According to Laura Carlsen with the Inter-Hemispheric Resource Center, Calderon went out of his way to distance himself from most of the other Latin American nations who have been challenging the US hegemony in the region.