MéXICO: Reformas pese a un gobierno dividido

2007 was the first year of felipe calderón, of the national action party, as president. the new government made the fight against organized crime a priority, relying on the army instead of civil police forces for the task. three important changes to statutes were successfully negotiated between president and parties: the civil servants pensions law (to cut a bubbling deficit in public finance); the creation of new taxes (a slight increase, but for the first time in decades, in government’s revenue capacity); and an electoral reform (as a result to the post-election crisis of 2006). we also review local elections held in 14 states, in which the revolutionary institutional party won back some positions it had lost in the recent past.