Alliance for Responsible Trade

Announced by Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Zócalo, México D.F. November 20^th, 2006

We have constituted a cabinet with honest men and women who are committed to the majority of the population as well as the legal and legitimate minorities. They are six men and six women that will accompany me in the management of the government. This team will formulate a series of diagnoses on the main problems of the country and will propose solutions and recommendations. Therefore, as of today we announce the first 20 measures of this people's government:

1. We will initiate a process for the renovation of public institutions. Together with the commission created to this end by the National Democratic Convention, we will call for a national debate and will promote a referendum for the elaboration of a new constitutional framework.

2. We will defend the right to information and will demand that the communications media is open to all expressions of society. Particularly, we will be watchful of the decision made by the Supreme Court on the recourse of anti-constitutionality presented by a group of Senators against the so called Televisa law.

3. We will address the grave migration problem, insisting on the need to change the economic policies in order to generate employment in our country. We will oppose the construction of the border wall and will protect Mexicans who have been obliged to go to the US to work from maltreatment, discrimination and human rights violations.

4. We will permanently denounce any injustice and will watch the performance of public prosecutors, judges, magistrates and ministers that are dedicated to "legalizing" the robberies carried out by the strong against the weak and to guarantee that white collar delinquents are treated with impunity. We reaffirm that without justice is not possible to guarantee public security, nor tranquility or social peace. We also say that it is not possible to confront organized crime if the law is not equally applied and only one band is punished and another one protected. We reiterate that we will not allow the ARMY or paramilitary police forces being used to repress the inconformity of the people that struggle for justice and liberty. From here we will express again our solidarity with the humble and dignified people of Oaxaca that are victims of repression, and demand the resignation of Ulises Ruiz, that sinister and despot governor, as well as the withdrawal of the Federal Preventive Police and the punishment of those found responsible of murder.

5. We will send to the legislators of the Frente Amplio Progresista a bill to elevate to constitutional rank the combat of corruption and make republican austerity effective. It is indispensable to consider the traffic of influence, the conflict of interests, nepotism and to carry out business deals under the protection of public powers as grave offenses . Also, a limit to the wages and benefits of high ranking officials of the three powers of the Union must be defined and at all governmental levels. As an example, it is unacceptable that a Court minister is receiving at present around 500,000 pesos a month (roughly 4,500 USD). Also, it will be proposed that the pensions of the ex presidents are cancelled. Never again shall we have a rich government and a poor people.

6. We will not allow more taxes on the poor and the middle classes while tax privileges to the powerful and influential are kept. Consequently, we reject VAT charges on medicines and food, and any other form of regressive tax reform. On the contrary, we will promote in the Union Congress the performance of an audit of the Ministry of the Treasury (Secretaría de Hacienda), in particular the SAT, since the privileged in Mexico simply do not pay taxes, or when they pay them they have them refunded.

7. In the next days, a project on the expenditure budget for 2007 will be sent to the legislators of the Frente Amplio Progresista, which proposes the reorientation of public spending to education, health, employment creation and the well being of the population. It must be remembered that the deputies chamber have the exclusive power to approve the public budget and that our legislators can do a lot to reduce the waste, government spending (gasto corriente), the payment of Fobaproa (Savings Protection Banking Fund) interests and to guarantee increased resources for the countryside, public universities and to states and municipalities.

8. The day after tomorrow (22 November, 2006), due to the importance of confronting the economic monopolies linked to the (political) power that with impunity hurt the popular and middle classes' economy, we will present to the senators of the Frente Amplio Progresista an initiative for a law on competitive prices, establishing a ruling for the Article 28 of the Constitution and to put an end to the exaggerated charges on goods and services in our country. It is unacceptable that Mexicans have to pay 223% more than US people for grey cement; 260% more for wide band internet; 312% more for cell phones; 65% more for fixed line telephone; 230% more for long distance calls nationally; 116% more high consumption residential electricity; 131% more for commercial electricity; 36% more high tension electricity; 5% more for magna gas; 18% more for premium gas; 178% more for a Banamex classic credit card; 115 more for the Bancomer visa card; 116% more for basic cable TV; 150% more for home credit; and 26,000% more for bank commissions to shopping in department stores with cards. All this not withstanding that the minimum wage in Mexico is 90% lower that in the US. We can not allow this going on. If this law on competitive prices is approved, millions of Mexican consumers will be able to save more than 10% of their earnings.

9. We will create the truth commission to investigate the Fobaproa fraud, the governmental rescue of road building enterprises, development banks and sugar mills; we will also review all the credit contracts and the construction of public works in Pemex and the Electricity Federal Commission (CFE) carried out under the so called Pidiregas.

10. We will protect national producers from the non discriminatory and limitless opening up of external trade. Particularly, an action plan will be created in order to prevent the application in the year 2008 of a clause of NAFTA that allows free imports of maize and beans, since it means a definitive blow to 4 million peasant families.

11. We will defend the constitutional right to a fair wage. Today, 16 million Mexicans, out of 42 million working age Mexicans, receive less than 30 pesos per day (less than $2.75 approximately). Presently, diverse social, labor, and academic organizations have initiated a campaign to defend the minimum constitutional wage, originally conceived as an instrument to guarantee the basic needs of workers' families. We announce our support to this campaign in favor of a fair and dignified remuneration to all the workers in the countryside and cities.

12. We will struggle so that the workers in the informal sector of the economy, the day laborers in agriculture, domestic workers and street vendors, among others, enjoy legal protection and have the right to social security.

13. We will defend the autonomy of trade unions and will promote their democratization. In particular, we will struggle for the respect of the right to free and secret voting in the elections of trade union leaders.

14. We will not allow the privatization of the electric industry to take place, nor the oil in any of its modalities. Oil does not belong to the State and much less to the government, it belongs to the nation. And our country is not for sale, but to be defended.

15. We will defend the national patrimony. This means the national resources, archeological zones, the ecosystems, the woods, water resources and culture. In this moment an initiative for a law on the incorporation of municipalities and states to the management of Mexico's historical patrimony is being discussed in the Deputies Chamber. This initiative pretends to eliminate the federal responsibility of the archeological zones and natural reserves and enable their privatization. The legitimate government will not accept this counter reform and will join the citizens and civil organizations in their actions to protect the nation's patrimony.

16. We will promote in the Union Congress the establishment of a welfare state in the Constitution, consisting in providing protection for a dignified life to all Mexicans, from the cradle to the grave. We will insist, as in the Federal District, for a universal pension for food to be given to all elderly people of the country; support to all persons with a disability and grants to single women so that their children do not abandon school.

17. The compliance with the San Andrés Larráiznar accords that guarantee the economic, social, political and cultural rights of the indigenous peoples will be given emphasis.

18. We will work to avoid the rejection of young people that wish to study in public universities. We will never accept the privatization of education, desired by the political right, as if it was some merchandise that can only be bought by those who have economic resources. Education can not become a privilege. Education and culture are fundamental for the country's development. The State is obliged to guarantee access to culture and to free and quality education at all school levels.

19. We will make effective the right of Mexicans to health. Today, more than half of the population does not have access to social security. The right to health is not guaranteed, either because lack of money to pay for medical attention and medicines, or because the lack of available services where people live. The so called Popular Insurance is pure demagoguery, because it is not insurance nor is popular. In the health centers there aren't any medicines. All they do is hand out prescriptions and charge a 6% of the family income to be affiliated. The legitimate government will work to guarantee medical services and free medicines for all Mexicans that lack social security. We will advocate for increasing investment in hospitals and health centers; to dedicate increased resources to the supply of medicines and medical supplies, and to hire the doctors and nurses needed to provide health services. Likewise, we will seek that the IMSS and ISSSTE count with enough resources to revert their state of deterioration.

20. We will help millions of Mexicans that live in popular neighborhoods, villages, towns and rural communities without public services and precarious households with all we can. We will seek for alternatives for the installment of water, electricity, drainage services and paving, and will insist on the right of humble people to receive credit for housing with interest rates that are equivalent to the annual increase of the minimum wage. "The legitimate government shall be the organized people"

Translation from Spanish by Manuel Pérez Rocha L.