Crossroads for Mexico City

An old dream came true Friday in Mexico City as Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, its first democratically elected mayor, was sworn in. That day, Mexicans could proudly declare democracy alive and well in the city. Now comes the hard part.

The task ahead for Cardenas and his team appears overwhelming, yet Cardenas seems confident he’ll be able to make life a little better for the 10 million people who live in the city. He needs luck, but as writer Carlos Fuentes has pointed out, “if Cardenas gets lucky, the city will get lucky.”

In his inaugural speech, Cardenas went to the heart of the city’s problems, promising to “win back the city from the criminals.” That is a pledge that won’t be easy to fulfill in a city where, though there is no reliable data, it’s estimated that more than 1,000 serious crimes are committed every day. And that is not the only problem Cardenas will face in his three-year term.

Exhaust from vehicles and factories concentrates in the Valley of Anahuac, where the city lies, creating dense, choking smog. There are 6 million people who live in dire poverty and work at on-and-off jobs that typically pay less than $1,500 a year. Many of them represent a political nightmare for Cardenas; among the problems are groups of illegal vendors who fight back every time the police try to evict them from the streets where they have set up shop. The transportation system is insufficient, and the city, built over two lagoons sucked dry long ago, is slowly but inexorably sinking, cracking historic buildings and messing up sewer pipes and more. Water, scarce and costly, must come from outside sources.

In spite of it all, Cardenas, the son of a beloved past president, Lazaro Cardenas, believes many of the city’s problems have solutions. And he has at least one advantage that puts him ahead of all previous mayors--the support of the people, who elected him in a landslide and honest election. Now he has to put that support to work in rebuilding a huge and faded metropolis.