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DECEMBER 4, 2000

Excerpts of President Vicente Fox's inaugural address. December 1, 2000.

We owe a debt to the indigenous communities which we must settle: the original peoples of these lands continue to suffer an intolerable situation of injustice and inequality.

I promised during my campaign, and today I reiterate: as Constitutional President of the Republic I have been, am and will be committed to new relations between the indigenous peoples and the Mexican State. I shall work tirelessly until this is achieved.

I will implement programs, which they themselves will administer, aimed at improving their communities.

I reiterate clearly and unequivocally that this task is and will be, from this moment on, the direct responsibility of the President of the Republic; that in fulfilling this commitment, I will take the lead.

However, every effort will be insufficient without the full and constant participation of the indigenous peoples themselves and their representatives in national deliberations, proposals and decisions.

Brothers and Sisters of the indigenous communities,

To my friends of the indigenous peoples:

Allow me to address you in a special way. In a special way so that it is the future is a flourishing one.

As President of Mexico, I responsibly pledge to create conditions that make possible the ongoing participation of each and every one of you, of your communities and your peoples, in building the legal frameworks that guarantee, within the National State, the full exercise of your autonomy and your self-determination in national unity, so that the future is a flourishing one.

Never again a Mexico without you!

In Mexico and in Chiapas there will be a new dawn!

In Chiapas, actions, not hollow words, will be the backbone of a new federal and presidential policy that leads to peace.

I pledged my word to send to this Honorable Congress as a bill, the document prepared by the COCOPA, which summarizes the spirit of the San Andrés Accords. This will be the first act of my administration related to this Congress. Next Tuesday, you will have this bill here.

I call upon the legislators, the political forces and parties, to deliberate with full responsibility on the capital topic embodied in that document: that of the State, society and Mexico’s indigenous peoples.

Full Text:
Fox Speaks to Congress (Government of Mexico 12/1)
Mensaje del Presidente Vicente Fox Quesada ante el H. Congreso de la Unión (Government of Mexico 12/1)

Get the Story:
Mexico's Fox promises new era (Global 12/4)