tv Charlie Rose PBS July 1, 2014 12:00pm-1:01pm PDT
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>> rooney: welcome to the program, tonight from mexico city, mexico, the president of mexico enrique pena nieto. >> an oil-producing country, mexico is a country which is facing the great opportunity of generating energy to other sources. and because of geographical location and natural welt we have the capacity of generating that however we haven't do be it. >> in the face of this scenario we launched in, not as a reform. >> which allows us to think fundamentally, one it preserves and maintains for the mexican state the ownership of hydro power but at the same time, in the second grade element of this reform is that it opens the facility so that for the
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exporetation of hydrocarbon and the generation of other sources of energy to have the participation of the private sector which undoubtedly opens the opportunity. >> rooney: from mexico city a conversation with the president when we continue. >> funding for charlie rose is provided by the following: funding for charlie rose is provided by the following: >> there's a saying around here: you stand behind what you say. around here, we don't make excuses, we make commitments. and when you can't live up to them, you own up and make it right. some people think the kind of accountability that thrives on so many streets in this country has gone missing in the places where it's needed most. but i know you'll still find it, when you know where to look.
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>> and by bloomberg. a provider of multimedia news and information services worldwide. captioning sponsored by rose communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. >> rooney: enrique pena nieto took office at mexico's 57th president 2012. he succeeded felipe calderon after getting the vote his victory marked he the the return for power for revolutionary ruling part. which ruled the party for 71 years from 1929 to 20 thousand. mario varingas loso once called it the perfect dictatorship, nieto ordered that he has changed and will change mexico. his inauguration speech
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outlined a bold promise to reform the key aspects of mexican society, education, telecommunications, and the state or monopoly pemex. in 2013 he brought opposition political parties on board with his agenda. they formed so the called pact for mexico. but reforms have been hard to implement at the same time as the economy has slowed. on friday hi a conversation with president pena nieto at his home in mexico city loss penos. >> after you were elected with that bold promise of economic reform people began to talk about mexico in a very flattering way. they even called it the mexican moment and the country of the future. "time" magazine on a cover story said after one year in office the president has passed the most ambitious package of social, political and economic reforms in memory. global economic forces too have shifted in this country's direction. throw in the openness of mexico's oil reserves and foreign investment for the first time in 75 years and smart money has begun to bet on peso power.
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in the wall street community, i would say that mexico is by far the favorite nation just now. it's gone from a country people had sort of given up on to become the favorite. all based on what you said in your inaugural speech in december of 2012. huge promise, huge hope. tom friedman said there country will become the most dominant economic power in the 2 1st century. the answer to that question which country he said is mexico. so there was a huge amount of reaction to these bold reforms, then the economy slowed down. your popularity slowed down the question many people are asking, what happened from your vantage point what happened? >> i think that we would have to review everything's that has happened in one year and a half. that's how long we have been
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in this administration. >> a lot of expectations were generated in mexico as of the starting point. and the following day, the next day after i took office as president of mexico, we signed among the main political forces of the country and the federal government, an agreement we called the pack -- which would of course gather a vision that is aimed at making changes, structure adjustments that allow mexico to grow economically and have greater social discipline. and this is accomplished right the next day after i took office. and obviously it is to be supposed that during the transition, that is the day of the election to the day i took office we were building this with the main political forces. and according to your comments, i think that this
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is the processing that in such a short period of time, 18 months, this has allowed us to launch various structural-- on issues that have been postponed for many decades in our country. i could assert that in mexico mexico decided to change. mexico decided to take the path of transformation. and this also showed the political maturity of the main political forces that have accompanied this effort, from having differences in the face of what has been processed in the adjustment of structural reform but undoubtedly this shows a very promising scenario for the future of our country the implementation of the
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reforms takes time. benefits of those reforms also take time. nonetheless what is a reality now in mexico is there have been changes, deep region reforms in energy in telecommunications, economic competition, financial education, political, that if a full agenda at least 7 profound reforms although right now congress is still debating the secondary legislation of the constitutional reforms in terms of energy and telecommunications, clearly we see and show the world that mexico will have a horizon of great development in the following year and my administration will, of course, have to carry out with efficient
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implementation of these reforms to insurance such a promising, encouraging future that many people abroad are seeing and mexico perhaps perhaps this will take time here, perhaps they will start seeing the benefits with time of this reforms for the population. >> what gave you the political courage to believe you could accomplish this. >> mexico. >> charlie is a democratic country. meck cois a country that has political stability in the last 18 years. >> the president is peaceful order recession. we have different political forces ruling our country and i think we've reached a
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point in which after in congress a political party lost majority and the capacity to reform the constitution for the secondary legislation. for many years it was postponed, reaching an agreement. and truly being able to materialize. however, i think that with the passing of time mexico has reached more political maturity especially the different political expressions of the country, the most representative ones, all of them i think have shown in this effort maturity and political stability. this has allowed to us reach an agreement and the second thing which is more important with the work and the responsibility of legislator its we can make sure that those goals we
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have set out to accomplish are now materialized in reforms that have already taken place and they are now a legislation in effect in our country. >> rooney: but despite the pact from mexico you understood that this might become in the near term politically unpopular because the results are reform might not be felt for years to come. >> i think the reforms and their benefits will not necessarily be sent for future, we're talking about a midterm and short term. gradually we're going to start feeling the benefits of this reform however it is evidence and this is sig want to say very clearly here, that my task at president of mexico, my responsibility, the most important thing is to make sure that the country has greater development and economic growth let me give
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you some data. in the last 30 years the average economic growth of our country is 2.4%, undoubtedly positive in contrast with the growth of other countries but insufficient and lower than that of other countries with similar development. and therefore it is fundamental for to us do reform, reforms that would allow better education, quality education that would also allow us to open competition in different sectors. one of them is fundamental, telecommunication and that could also allow as to make sure that credit would be flowing to other sectors in population. although we do have a robust banking system, very open and well capitalized system, the credit level was low compared with that of other countries. and that's why. we launched the financial reform and reform that would
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allow the state to have better collection and strengthened public finances to invest in strategic centers, infrastructure, science, technology, education and different things where we had been left behind. >> let me focus on the economy for a second. why isn't the economy growing as you expected it to grow? is it because of the global economy? is it because of the u.s. economy or is it because internal conditions in mexico? >> i would say for all of those reasons you mentioned, charlie. i think everything you have mentioned, they're all factors that have lead mexico not to have in this period of time the level of growth we would have expected although it's been positive growth f you contrast it with that of other countries of the european region, the u.s.
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just recently, we've known, the growth of its economy, it's slowing down and of course undoubtedly 2.9% is undoubtedly the type of growth the u.s. might have, will have high impact in the performance of our economy the public investment which is another fundamental-- another fundamental factor and it is obviously when the new administration took over there was a new pace, nonetheless the second year of my administration the pace of public expenditure is greater practically 40% higher in real terms from what we had last year. i would sigh that not having more growth right now is due to multireasons. performance of the u.s. economy, i think this is a very important factor. the public expenditure level
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which is higher now and i have to tell you that mexico now san open economy, clearly dependent on what happens in the world. >> some people in mexico tell me that you haven't spent the money that you got from the increased revenue, they are waiting for to you make the commitment from that revenue, when will you do that. >> this is something we are doing right now. i think-- the investment level we've had this year, this first four months of the year, 40% higher in real terms than what we had exercised last year and there are some areas of the public administration that are triggering infrastructure, for instance, the communications attracts the-- the level expenditure of this agency the first four months, 112% higher than last year. this is not a lack of
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expenditure, on the contrary t is clearly shown that we are investing more than last year. and on the other hand we're starting to see very encouraging figures, charlie. the truth is that all economic indicators month after month since january until right now, june, clearly are showing better performance in our economy. for all the reasons that i've mentioned. >> 2014 the economic growth rate will be less than 3%. >> our estimate is 2.67%. there is the estimate of the finance ministry. >> a couple things about the economy manufacturing went to china in some cases because of low wages has come back to mexico. you have a vigorous manufacturing economy. but some say because it's based on low wages in part that you're not creating the demand that will spur and
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stimulate the economy i say the different scenario exactly as the reforms were promoted i think having done this educational reform will allow to us have more better human capitol and of course to have human capitol that is more specialized than different manufacturing-- that's exactly what's given our country a point of difference vis-a-vis china that seemed to be countries that were competing. >> it could see that perhaps we will have a competition this some sectors, not less i think that with all punk yulity with clearly marked the competitive advantage of each country, mexico is entering into a feel of
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greater specialization. mexico has mainly a young population, higher education, in higher education with graduates, 100,000 engineers every year graduate here. and they will undoubtedly profile the economic profile of a people graduating will be incorporating into special industry undoubtedly we do have competitive, in the oughtive industry-- the fourth exporter of automobiles to the world were practically one of the main exporters of automobiles to the united states. in flat screen televisions we're the first producer and exporter, refrigerators, we are the 6th supplier of the u.s. industry. in aerospace, our industry
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is now becoming more specialized and it is getting competitive advantages. >> rooney: but you also wanted domestic demand. >> and i think this will depend on the economic growth. it will depend on internal consumption and this will depend on the level or the performance of our economy. of course also the redistribution of wealth will be more just, more he gual tarrian that is why we have the fiscal reform which is more progressive than we had before. this is a reform that also it is charging more taxes for those who make more and then we also have location of the budget investing more in social programs, more in health infrastructure, inroads and especially to the less favored sectors. >> rooney: so when will the
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people of mexico feel that. when will they know the impact. >> the most anxious and the person that most desires for this to happen as soon as possible is myself. president of mexico, yours truly. because everything i have to be very clear this is not a personal accomplishment this is really a mexico accomplishment. this is the accomplishment of a team. this is the accomplishment of a democracy we now have in our country that hag allowed for this to happen. >> everybody says to me when i come to mexico city it's about the execution it's about the implementation. are the people involved that you convinced to join you in a pact for mexico, are they equally committed to the implementation of these stig reforms? >> it evident that in the secondary legislation which is now in the process t is being debated, it will soon
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be passed, there should be consistency in terms of what the political forces have supported through the reforms so i hope that there is consistency, this congress vis-a-vis the support we have had will be maintained for the due processing and that this will also be part of the process there is a lot more responsibility on the government of mexico in this case or the state government as well, the implementation of the reforms. the greater responsibility is in the government and very especially in the federal government it is fair to say that the world is looking at your energy reforms this is a dramatic thing that hadn't happened in 70 years in mexico an to tackle that was a significant move. tell me how it will work? >> we started doing a very
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clear diagnosis. mexico is an oil-producing country. mexico is a country which is facing the great opportunity of generating energy through other sources. and because of geographical location and natural wealth we have the capacity of generating that, however we haven't done it. in the face of this scenario, we launched a reform which allows us two things fundamentally one, it preserves and maintains for the mexican state the ownership of hydrocarbons. but at the same time, in the second grade element of this reform is that it opens the possibility so that for the expore takes of hydrocarbons and the generation of other sources of energy to have its pansion which undoubtedly opens the fan of opportunities.
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it opens the faith for to us have more investment in the sector and to generate more jobs. >> rooney: so you will allow foreign companies to come to the mexican oil fields even though ownership remains with the state of mexico. >> that's correct. >> that's right. >> the reform will make it possible for national investment to be in the sector but the state maintains the ownership. those that are extracting resources will have to pay, obviously the mexican for that extraction and deliver that. the state will continue to be the owner of the wealth of our oil, but additionally i think this makes it possible, i mean the reform for to us have competition in the sector. pemex the great company it is, will continue to be t belongs to the mexican
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people, now will have to face competition and this undoubtedly will make the pemex process even more efficient. >> rooney: so they have to become more efficient. they have to restructure. >> yes, they have to be more efficient. they do have to be more efficient. with more cost benefit for the population. because the population says more competition is being generated, and access to different products that will be competing, this gives a great advantage, this will also allow us to increase our energy security especially in natural gas production. we know we have natural gas. we were self-sufficient in natural gas, now we have to import gas to supply households, national industry. if we want more investment or industry to generate more jobs, then we really have to count on this input.
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it fundamental at a better tries do you believe the scandal has affected pemex at all. >> that was a private issue of pemex supplying company, it is obvious that the problem of the fraud, there was clearly been-- public opinion is fraud of private companies with a financial institution. fake information-- but it doesn't directly involve the oil company. >> rooney: okay. with respect to telecommunications, in restructuring televisions and creating more÷&e-competitiog what some people believe is monopolistic circumstances, you're taking on your wealthiest citizens in mexico carlos slim, he clearly will fight back. how will this battle unfold? >> the telecommunications
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reform, charlie, is devoted to opening the sector for more competition. because we have to make sure, i think it has three fundamental objectives. first more competition in television services, in telephony services and especially more internet coverage throughout mexico. on the other hand, the spirit of the telecommunications reform is for this three services to be delivered through the company of those participating. and to that it's fundamental to have an even floor that will allow us to break away from asymmetries in the sector and for us to finally have even competition for 9 benefit of users, for the benefit of med can federalists, for the benefits of users who watch
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television, who use the telephone, for the benefit of small, medium size enterprises who are the ones that with their own resource these could not count on appropriate efficient services on telephony and digital services that are fundamental to increase their productivity. this is the impact of the telecommunications reform it's not really opening competition but making sure that the competition will have an impact on the growth of the economy of our country. >> rooney: on education, tell me what you want to do because you have taken on a powerful head of the teachers union who is now in jail, i understand. what is it you want to do in education? education i think we would have to accomplish two fundamental objectives. first to very clearly state that the state is responsible for education,
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it's the mexican state responsible for giving the guidance of education in our country. second in the past and something that was the fundamental objective of a post revolutionary period of time the country, the beginning of the 20th century was to have education we were a country the first half of the 20th century with a high de greif illiteracy because there was no education coverage. this objective was reached in the 2 1st century should be for education not only coverage and expanding of coverage which is now covering the basic levels about 97% but quality education. and this is exactly what the reform in education forces, and this of course,
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vindicates the guidance of the state on public education. second, it makes sure there is quality education. >> rooney: more quality education more callity. >> back to the question of implementation. at's been delayed. what's the timetable for implementation of these reforms across the board, to get the secondary legislation to get the execution going? the timetable? >> education has been materialized in terms of its secondary legislation where the legislation the timing this is exactly what we are serving for is the implementation. the telecommunications reform right now is being debated in congress. the reforms in telecommunications. and according to what its congress and the speakers of the congress have said, we
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perceive that in the following way. we're going to be holding a debate in the definition of telecommunications and we also for see in terms of what congress meant it will be in its next 2 or 3 weeks that they are going to be holding the debate and discussion. which have been two reforms accomplished that are pending to be processed. i'm talking about the secondary legislation or the different legislation because it's not just one is txz they are different onces. and this is why this passing process is plex. why do you think your popularity has declined. >> i think that to a great extent this is due to the fact that this impetus, the country has decided to implement has faced resistance from different groups that are being affected, their interests.
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but i recognize and i seend i have have full conviction that these reforms will give mexico prosperity for its population and opportunity to, for mexico to have sustained economic growth. and-- greater -- >> you think you can overcome overcome those forces that are pushing back, you are convinced. >> i would scare say charlie that i'm not thrive be to be a popular president. i'm thriving to transform mexico and the margin of what this could have in terms of popularity, the important thing is first of all to insurance that reforms we have already accomplished, now do the implementation. and i think the judgement of history will be on what really takes place and what will happen to mexico. i am not occupied really in
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working for the popularity of the president. i'm occupied working so that mexico will have a future, more development, more equality in society, more jobs, more jobs and jobs that are better paying. and especially sustained economic growth in years to come. >> the united states as you mentioned, 80% of your export goes to the united states. 50% of your imports come from the united states, correct. >> that's right. >> characterize the relationship today between the united states and mexico? >> the relationships of mexico with the united states undoubtedly shows this has been so intense i would even dare say that now this relationship in the two countries at the institutional level this is one of its best moments. there's good cooperation in
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topics that are common to security, for instance, border security. is working to increase productivity of our economy and this really this economic association as of the free trade developmenta agreement will give us economic growth of course which is the objective of most countries and more development for our society. and our economic relationship is undoubtedly very intense. let me give you some data here. i don't think many people know this. in effect, about 80% of our exports come to the united states. mexico is the second most important destination of u.s. exports. what does this mean? practically the u.s. felt our country, as it-- five times what it sells brazil. more than what it sells
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together to brazil, russia, china and india. it sells to mexico is higher than what it sells to all those countries all together. and let's me also tell you that value change, in the economic relationship between mexico and the u.s. can be clearly appreciated. each dollar mexico exports to the u.s. has a content of american production of 40 cents. that is our economy are well integrated. our relationship, and it is a benefit for both countries. >> so you do you feel that the united states has been a full part ferr for mexico. >> undoubtedly the u.s. has been a tragic partner, ally for mexico and mexico sun doubtedly an ally at the economic level. very important partner. we are the second most important destination of its
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exports, exports that are generating jobs, according to estimates it's about 6.5 million jobs that are generated in the united states, derived precisely from the free-trade agreement we signed. including canada, of course, but particularly in the relationship phone the u.s. and mexico. >> before i turn to immigration there is this other aspect your friends in braz pril very up set over disclosures about what the national security agency-- i didn't here mexico complain were there questions about nsa spying on mexico? clearly we pointed out in the face of this situation of eventual spying or the u.s. government listening to what we were saying, we sent a diplomatic note. and i had the opportunity to
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talk to president o bomba about it. and to ask for an explanation on this and there is exactly what happened. what i clearly said is that the relationship for our country will not be-- because we are saying things we shouldn't be saying or having reactions that are eccentric but truly to have a relationship of respect and seriousness and i think we have found, and this is why i said that the relationship between both countries are going through a very favorable moment because we find these we have found the response to the relationship and the cooperation we have with different issues and a relation of great respect and cordial wit both nations reasons it almost has to be because of the relationship between the economies it has to be that way, yes but
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especially because i think we are-- this is a government and we found reciprocity and seriously in the relationship of both countries. >> that brings me to immigration. clearly mexico is up up set about the number of guns that are coming a crossing the border. >> i think this is an issue that intelligently mexico has said has manifested its position as long as we continue, to have this indiscriminate trade of weapons. i understand this is the domestic policy. unfortunately, however, because there is arms trafficking, because there has been the criminal groups obviously are arming themselves with weapons that are coming in illegally into
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mexico and that is why we have established a cooperation agreement to afford this traffic. i think the united states will have to take internal measures to face first of all this sales weapons which is generating problems. inside the united states but in this serious respect relationship there is an issue that the u.s. will have to domestic policy in my relationship with the u.s. we've only asked and demanded to avoid having illegal trafficking of weapon as long our borderlines so, that we can fight against this together, each one. >> and that this cooperation we can share this practice that is affecting mexico and i think other parts of the world. >> as you know when i interviewed your predecessor
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he constantly talked about the war against the drug cartel and the cooperation with the united states in that war. you've had some success but you seem to want to focus on the other issues of mexico and not the battle with the drug cartels even though you have had success. give me a sense of where you think are you in eliminating or reducing both the violence as well as the profit. >> the security of mexico is a priority for my government. i have said this right from the beginning of my administration as well as when i took office. one of the main objectives of my government. >> is it different -- >> this is an issue that undoubtedly has occupied the attention and occupation of the government. no government that is resigned to this or give this a-- we have been able
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to gather what was done in the past, give institutional efforts to have better institutions, more professional institutions, but we've also-- had the strategy in terms of security and justice. that is the way we implement it and let me simply refer to figures that speak for themselves that are quite encouraging in terms of the progress made in this one year and a half. recorded. almost 25 percent less than in the same period in the year 2012. and those that are associated to organized crime, it is an even higher figure. i can tell you we've detained, apprehended
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various of the main head of the drug cartel. they are now in jail. and they're going through their legal process. they are being prosecuted. i can tell you that there are more heads of drug cartels detained and less homicides in mexico. >> which raises an important question. i think former president was asked one of the challenge for mexico. he said rule of law, rule of law, rule of law. rule of law goes right to the heart of the judicial process and corruption. where is that in creating a rule of law that eliminates much of the corruption that enables drug cartels to flourish. >> i would add to what undoubtedly is allowing to insurance conditions of more tranquillity for mexicans, also an improvement in the standards for reforms an justice implemented in
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mexico. mexico is to you going to criminal justice and it is going through a written process and mainly oral trials that will allow us to have more transparent, more open justice as well as more prompt, faster justice to fight impunity that could have been seen in the past. that mexico towards the year 2016 according to the constitution will have a criminal justice system which is more efficient, that will allow us to fight impunity and insurance justice. something which is reinforcing this, it has to do with legal reforms which accomplished recently, there's going to be a single criminal code in mexico. this will allow us to look at all the different processes and to reform this
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and this, of course, also reinforces the objective of insurancing law enforcement, and for it to be prompt, expeditious and efficient. >> immigration, there is much concern in the america on immigration policy and much debate on immigration policy. but there is a question of immigration to the united states of young children coming from central america and the question that raises, is are you doing something about the border and are you doing enough to make sure that your government is not looking the other way and are not corrupt so that this credible flight of children is stopped? >> it would seem this is a into issue. a new topic. now it's become even more relevant as its growing number of unaccompanied children who were crossing the northern border of our country, going into the united states.
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this has caused people attention this is not a any phenomenon. but what is different from the past is the growing number of children. a twofold increase than just a few months of the number of children that are trying to reach the united states. mexico has perhaps something-- a good practice in which it has officials devoted precisely to all those children that are crossing through our territory who are coming from central america. and when they are repatriated they are not only sent to the places of over i begin but they are accompanied by the minors immigration official. mexico has shelters where it cares for children trying to cross the border who have no company with them. on this issue we have to say
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that mexico has taken steps an still reinforcing this policy to care for-- but this high number we have seen in recent months because this is something that just started happening recently. this has let us to have a dialogue and agreement with the u.s. government and with the central american country. from where they come. this is where the highest number of children are coming from central america just recently. a high level meeting in guatemala. and the vice president of its u.s. was there and the mexican minister of the interior was there and presidents of the central american regon were also participating. and the commitment was made for all advance to take upon itself this responsibility to be acting in full respect, so that gangs of the
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organized crime are not using the minors. and are misinformed in the population and this is encouraging a higher number of migrants to mexico from the united states. i think we have to warn society officially of the to avoid this from happening. we have mechanisms to care for these children that are trying to cross the border but also giving the population true information and wore's discouraging this migration of children that i think is most of the time they're being victims. there are consequences, the accuse of criminal gangs that are devoted to trafficking with children or to taking migrants to the united states. >> do you think that the immigration policy affected immigration can be achieved
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so there will not be a flight of not only children but of people from your country across-the-board never america creating all the issues that it raises for america? >> we have seen the process that the united states is forming on migration reform, i think, something that is desirable, and full justice this is something that should happen for all those from our country reaching to the development of the united states who arrived illegally in the united states. the united states is a country that has grown fundamentally. with great migration that took place in the past. mexico has been watching this process. we've wanted to eventually-- we wanted to prosper but this is internal policy of the united states. i must say that from mexico to the u.s., the number of mexicans trying to cross the border to reach the united
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states is lower. and the flow especially from central america, that is what we mainly see. and i think this reforms that we've mentioned so much will give mexico greater opportunities for its population, jobs, development, that will inhibity the people that want to migrate that they can do it because of their own decision, not because of des knee-- necessity. and i think on this issue, migration, i insist it would be injustice for the u.s. to recognize for millions of pie grants who have arrived in the united states to not partake in the development and wealth of that country. >> rooney: people also ask about your party. and they say it has been a party that had power for a long time until essentially the mexican people said
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enough. is the preparty that you are the leader of a different party. or do the people who used to be powers in that party still have power in the preparty that is in power today? >> i can tell you without any doubt and this is my conviction, that the preof 29 1st century is undoubtedly very different then from that of the 20th century or the first half or the first three fourths of 209th century. because mexico is all so different. today we are a country which is more democratic, with more political competition. and this means that the parties have to renew themselves inside. and this is what i have seen as members of the preparty. this has happened in my party. first of all because there is a new generation now. that has taken upon itself
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responsibilities within the party or representing the party in different government tasks. and the same has happened with other actors of the other political parties. today we cannot say of the pri and the other parties either some are younger than others, that they are the same as they were in the 20th century, rather we would have to conceive right now that the political parties of our country first of all-- they revitallized and gave character and strength to our democracy. because it is through its political parties that we give the space of participation, within the political activity. and of course in the political reform we have independent candidates with opening the fan of opportunities to participate in politics. and the condition, the
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condition which is part of democracy, competition, so that society will be judging. >> through a political competition they want to have a different responsibilities, the president of the country, the governor or legislator. this is a condition of mexico's experience but at the same time it gives us a lot of strength, as i was saying, our country has enjoyed great political stability. it has the changes and relays in the presidency of the country, in political stability, social order as well. and this being able to till the history of mexico for 80 years there are not many countries in the world that can really be proud of having this strength mexico now has now. we're a more democratic society, a more demanding
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society, more critical society, more participatory society. we have political plurality. and this makes it possible for society to define. desame time that sometimes it does polarize opinions. >> but you also have a large amount of poverty and 50% of the people in mexico are at the poverty level. >> 46%, unfortunately, of our society lives in conditions of poverty this is one of the biggest challenges is the pop i cannot only about the government, priority of various administrations for many years. and we are seeking to do in my administration is greater efficiency in the new social policies and investment we're making in intrastructure and communications education so that we can-- the that unfortunately is something, not only here but in
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>> i hear from you that you believe all the resistance to mexico becoming what some had hoped it would be based on the reforms you suggested. you firmly believe are achievable and doable and will happen. >> i think those moments for mexico will be shown, every day, day-by-day in the development and growth that the world can see and observe in mexico. and this is going to be possible thanks not only t to-- but the reforms that have already been made in the framework that were passed by the majority of the political forces of the country and are now working on implementation of those reforms. and all this will did rife into a process that at the end of the day we are going to see greater-- or economic
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growth. the generation of more jobs. attraction of more productive investment for the country. that's the mexico that i think we are going to be seeing year after year with the passing of time. and i would rescue among the most important things that we've done is the-- steps mexico has taken, mexico decided to change, to extend the path of transformation and it did this as of its democratic condition, its plural condition, with the participation of all the political expression and in the passing of a very important reform. and the mexican society will find perhaps answers that are not sufficiently explained now on these reforms but it will find those answers in the benefits that mexican
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society will be-- with time, energy costs will go down better, infrastructure, roads, ports, more investment will be coming to our country. there will be more competition in telecommunications, so the benefits we're going to be getting, the mexican society will be filling those benefits. will first see those benefits gradually. >> mr. president, thank you. >> it has been a pleasure talking to you, charlie. thank you so much for coming to mexico. for us o to have this meeting t a pleasure being here with you. >> we'll come back, thank you. >> pleasure. >> a conversation with the president of mexico, thank you for joining us. see you next time. captioning sponsored by rose communications
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the following kqed production was produced in high definition. >> and their buns are something i had yet to find anywhere else. >> and you can come to my house to dinner. >> breaded, fried, gooey, lovely. >> in the words of arnold schwarzenegger, i'll be back. >> you've heard of a connoisseur, i'm a common sewer. >> i may have to ward off some
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