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The PAN president talks about the opposition party that could...
When Luis Felipe Bravo Mena won the presidency of the National Action Party (PAN) in 1999, it seemed improbable the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) would lose its seven-decade hold on Los Pinos any time soon. Little more than a year later, however, Mena found himself atop a stage in front of Mexico City's Angel de la Independencia, celebrating the historic victory of PAN candidate Vicente Fox. Thus began a new era in Mena's long career with the PAN.
Mena has been a member of the PAN since 1969. It wasn't until 1982, however, that he started to scale the party ranks. In 1990, Mena ran for president of the Naucalpan municipality, and was candidate for governor of the State of Mexico in 1993. He also served as both a deputy (1994-1997) and senator (19971999).
Now, as ruling-party president, Mena sees his task as reinventing Mexico's former single-party political structure. Under the PRI, says Mena, the president invariably had the last word on policy changes. With a loyal and obedient PRI majority in both houses of Congress, the president merely had to suggest a bill, and it would be passed, no questions asked.
Mena believes that Mexico-whose current ruling party cannot boast a majority in Congress-has entered a new phase in democratic government, and politicians must now learn how to participate in real, open debate on the important issues facing the country.
Mena took the time to talk to BusiNEss Mexico about the state of politics in Mexico, the lessons to be learned as head of the ruling party and the PAN's relationship with the other parties in Congress.
Two months into the Fox administration, how has the relationship between the PAN and the new government developed?
The relationship between the PAN and the government has remained positive. We've found our own place and developed lines of communication so that government plans are thoroughly discussed and remain within the party's ideology. Talks on all matters between all parties concerned have been intense.
We all understand our roles, and most importantly, the government has not tried to monopolize the party...