U.S. DEMAND CAUSES DRUG FLOW, FOX SAYS

SAN CRISTOBAL, Mexico -- Only days before his inauguration as president,
Vicente Fox said the United States should deal with its drug habit and
pledged to urge U.S. and Canadian officials to join what he called
"NAFTA-plus."

Fox said the United States is too quick to write off Mexico as a corrupt
haven for drug smugglers -- and too reluctant to look in the mirror.

"The United States year after year blames us. Why?" asked Fox, who takes
office Friday. "Who lets the drugs into the United States? Who is doing
gigantic business in the United States, then sends down millions of dollars
that corrupt Mexican police officers and government officials?"

Fox said the two countries need to "sit down ... and work this out together."

Fox has promised strong measures against drug corruption, but his comments
indicate that he may continue or amplify Mexico's long-standing complaint
that the supply of drugs would not exist without demand in the United States.

He also said that despite a tepid reaction from both George W. Bush and Al
Gore, he is confident that he will persuade his northern neighbors to
expand the North American Free Trade Agreement and eventually to open their
borders entirely to Mexican goods -- and maybe even workers -- along the
lines of the European Union.

"I am proposing a 'NAFTA- plus,' " he said. "I'm proposing that 20, 30
years down the road we form a North American common market in which we
become partners, the United States, Canada and Mexico.

"I will continue to insist on this, and I know I will win the battle," Fox
said. "I am going to persuade Bush or Gore, whoever it is. And I am going
to persuade the American people."

Fox's election July 2 was a historic change for Mexico, ending 71 years of
rule by a single party. Friday, the country enters a new era as Fox takes
office -- and takes on dire problems including crippling poverty,
widespread corruption and rampant crime.

A farmer and former Coca- Cola executive, Fox pledged to treat the country
as a chief executive officer would a money-losing company and to build "a
government that costs less and does more."

During the weekend, he took a final breather before assuming the
presidency, retreating to his hometown of San Cristobal, a farming village
210 miles northwest of Mexico City.

Fox milked a cow, tended to horses in the stables, played tennis and joined
his children in an out-of-tune number with a mariachi band. He sat for
interviews with The Associated Press and CNN in his mother's living room,
amid porcelain figurines of horses and black-and-white wedding photos of
family members.

Chatting with his children and posing for photographers, Fox seemed quite
relaxed given what he is facing.

"It's just like in school," Fox said. "When it's time for exams, the people
who have studied go in calmly, with the confidence that everything will go
well. ... I am going to be the best president this country has ever had."

Fox said that he was aware of the giant -- probably unrealistic --
expectations Mexicans have for him but that he isn't worried about them.

On the contrary, "I would never throw cold water on that enthusiasm, on
that hope," he said. "I dare say that this is Mexico's revolution of hope."

But he cautioned people not to expect too much, saying most of the changes
he envisions will take much longer to implement than six years, the length
of his term.

"I think the development process Mexico is facing will be long," he said.
"We have said that in a generation we want to have the Mexico that we
always should have had. ... The 21st century is the century of Latin
America and of Mexico. We are going to be the winners."

Fox said that he was surprised by the smoothness with which Mexico has
accepted the democratic process in which he was elected and that he had
expected more resistance from the ruling party and other opposition forces.

"I'm very satisfied, and I have to recognize not only the Mexican people,
but also President [Ernesto] Zedillo, who came onto national television ...
and declared the winner Vicente Fox because he was convinced that I had
won," Fox told CNN.

Then he smiled.

"Maybe," he said, "this should happen in the United States."