On Sunday The Washington Post published a story on how Mexican Pres. Enrique Peña Nieto’s popularity is skyrocketing in Washington and elsewhere, but not “in the only place it really counts: Mexico”:
The biggest problem, analysts say, has been Mexico’s feeble growth. Last year, the country’s economy expanded at just 1.1 percent, far below the goal of 5 percent growth Peña Nieto set when he ran for president.
His most widely touted move, a constitutional amendment opening Mexico’s state-controlled energy sector to private and foreign investment, was advertised as a catalyst for faster growth. But it may take years for the benefits to materialize. …
‘Peña Nieto is taking on the big issues that most economists would agree have been holding Mexico back, so the view of Mexico has been quite positive,’ said Shannon O’Neil, a Mexico expert at the Council on Foreign Relations.
At the same time, O’Neil said, ‘the reforms have yet to make life better for the average Mexican.’
While Peña Nieto and the PRI are playing the long game, they might not have that much time to convince the Mexican people they’re worth keeping in office.