Mexico’s Fox Recruits Political Outsiders for Transition Team

President-elect Vicente Fox announced a multi-party transition team Monday--made up of people who have long been on the political outside--to help him complete the first peaceful transfer of power in Mexico’s history.

Fox, whose July 2 victory over the party that has ruled Mexico since 1929 redrew the country’s political landscape, said the new team will help him form policies and goals between now and Dec. 1, when he takes office.

“They will support me in the definition of the strategies of the new government,” Fox said at a news conference, surrounded by the 18 members of the team.

Of the 18, only 11 are affiliated with Fox’s National Action Party, or PAN. Fox said his team will work with members of the outgoing government to draft the 2001 budget, which President Ernesto Zedillo must present to Congress before Fox takes office.

Fox said he will announce his actual Cabinet and top advisors for his government in late August or in September, although the people on the transition team are obvious favorites for those posts.

Fox, a former Coca-Cola executive, has hired headhunters who normally work for businesses to look for candidates for the posts.

There were few surprises among the names announced Monday. Most had been among the people most mentioned as candidates for the top posts in Fox’s government.