ABSTRACT
With the exception of the period surrounding the 1994 Mexican presidential elections, U.S. government support for emerging democracy in Mexico was of limited visibility and few concrete actions. The United States never publicly articulated a policy or strategy toward democratic development in Mexico; supporting democracy in Mexico remained a relatively low priority. As a recent State Department Country Director for Mexico summed up: “The U.S. mostly didn’t think one way or the other about Mexico’s internal politics; there were other issues, problems that took precedent.”1 Political assistance from USAID diversified over time but continued to operate at a low profile level. A thorough review of the public record confirmed that the U.S. government rarely took a controversial public stand by criticizing Mexican anti-democratic or human rights practices. 2 Overall, what was found was not an active policy process to react to and, potentially, support democratic development in Mexico nor even an active process to arrive at a consensus on how political change in Mexico might further or impede U.S. interests. As one U.S. diplomat explained: “There was no consensus, we didn’t talk about it at all.”3
