alternatehistory.com

...President Vincente Fox, Mexico's first non-PRI president in over 80 years, entered office with some of the highest approval ratings in Mexican history and a sweeping mandate for change. However, Mexicans could not agree on what change precisely was needed and thus Fox and his administration wound up curtailing the president's efforts to institute a value-added tax to raise revenue, something Fox had planned to be the centerpiece of his effort at fiscal reform. Nevertheless, Fox's attempts to make Mexico a leader in Central America by signing free-trade agreements with both Belize and Guatemala and attempting to jump-start talks on a possible Americas-wide (sans Cuba) free trade area ran into opposition both from the United States and leftist governments in Venezuela and Uruguay, effectively ending the agreement for the foreseeable future.

Nevertheless, the United States' tackling of the problem of (primarily Mexican) illegal immigration in the final months leading up to the election and the lack of an economic downturn under Fox led to Fox being able to effectively appoint his successor as PAN's presidential candidate, former Secretary of the Interior Santiago Creel. Creel's primary opposition came from PRD candidate and former Mexico City Mayor Andrés Manuel López Obrador, known affectionately as "AMLO", who campaigned as a left-wing alternative to Creel and criticized Fox's administration for its pro-business tilt and what he described as its "submissive" relationship with the United States during Fox's term. The PRI nominated former Tlaxcala Governor Beatriz Paredes after a surprise primary victory saw Paredes triumph over ex-Tabasco governor Roberto Madrazo. Paredes became the first major-party female presidential nominee in Mexican history and her placement on the PRI's left-wing meant that she ended up taking votes away from López Obrador.



Creel won a small victory, largely owing to Paredes acting as a spoiler for López Obrador, and pledged to accelerate the slow growth to the Mexican economy that had taken place under Fox...