Mexico Hook Or Crook

Throughout its 57-year history, Mexico's ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (P.R.I.) has never lost a single gubernatorial or presidential election. Indeed, the country's one-party democracy has generally been popular so long as Mexico prospered. At present, however, the country is far from prosperous: its foreign debt will soon top $100 billion, and last winter's plunge in oil prices stripped the government of a third of its projected annual foreign exchange of $24.5 billion. The economic turmoil has put unprecedented pressure on the political system. Thus Mexicans and foreigners alike were paying close attention to last week's elections in Chihuahua, the country's largest...