ABSTRACT
Mexico's entry into the NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) era began in the 1980s under pressure from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the US government – all of whom urged a dramatic restructuring in order to repay the massive foreign debts of the private and public sector in the context of the crisis of 1982–3. Under NAFTA, Mexico has been commonly portrayed as an outstanding exception in Latin America, a nation that has engineered a great transformation, basing its success on the export of ever more complex manufactured products. However, our research reveals a dramatically different Mexico from that which is widely disseminated, particularly by Mexico's political class and its economic elite.
