As he takes office, Mexico’s president pledges to expand prosperity

Enrique Peña Nieto became the president of Mexico on Saturday and outlined an ambitious plan to transform it into a middle-class society by taking on powerful monopolies and unions and reducing poverty, hunger and violence.

“We are a nation that grows at two speeds,” Peña Nieto said. “Some live in backward conditions and poverty, and others live in development. There are a great number of Mexicans who live day-to-day, worried over the lack of jobs, opportunities — conditions that have damaged the image of Mexico abroad, and we have to transform that Mexico.”

As he spoke, protests against the new government erupted in at least nine states and the capital, where men and women wearing ski masks vandalized businesses and recently renovated landmarks. More than 100 people were arrested,according to the Dallas News.

After taking the oath of office in Congress’ Chamber of Deputies, Peña Nieto addressed the country at the National Palace before a room packed with dignitaries, including Vice President Joe Biden.

Peña Nieto’s inauguration marked the comeback of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, completing a remarkable turnaround following its defeat 12 years ago after seven decades in power.

In his speech, Peña Nieto promised to tackle the ills that he said continue to keep Mexico from achieving its rightful place in the world. He pledged to take on major interest groups by ending patronage in the education system, now controlled by a powerful union, and by opening two new television networks and expanding Internet service, now in the control of mighty telecommunication moguls.

In singling out unions and monopolies, Peña Nieto may be “letting some of the major interest groups know in Mexico they are not above the law,” said Andrew Selee of the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute.

Peña Nieto’s appointment of Emilio Chuayffet as education secretary “may signal the desire to mark limits to the union’s control over parts of the educational system, although it remains to be seen what direction this approach will take,” Selee said.

Peña Nieto called for “clear and precise rules so that anyone who aspires to become, stay and grow as a teacher, director or supervisor can do so based on their work and merit,” he said.

But outside the heavily fortified National Palace, signs of a divided nation were evident. One of the losing candidates in the presidential election, leftist leader Andrés Manuel López Obrador, vowed to discredit the new president, accusing him of winning the election through vote-buying. In the streets just blocks from the ceremony, students and other supporters of López Obrador clashed with police, hurling rocks, Molotov cocktails, sticks, bottle rockets and firecrackers. A garbage truck crashed through a police barricade.

“This is your welcome back, PRI,” one sign read.

In a country haunted by the deaths of more than 60,000 people in drug-related violence in the past six years, Peña Nieto pledged to help victims of crime, enact changes to the penal code to combat impunity and restore peace.

 “Mexico demands to live in peace. I’m convinced that you don’t fight criminals only with force. It’s unavoidable that the state start a comprehensive effort to reconstruct the social fabric,” he said.

“Our cities, our towns, our roads need to return to spaces of tranquility, in which Mexicans can transit with security, without fear of losing their freedom or life.”

Peña Nieto’s speech underscored the importance of being a “responsible global partner,” but he stopped short of addressing his country’s relationship with the United States, with whom it shares a 2,000-mile border, $500 billion in annual trade, and cultural ties with some 30million Americans who claim Mexican heritage.

M.D