Good luck to president-elect Obrador

The hopes raised by the election in Mexico of a candidate pledged to remove corruption and improve economic performances reminded me of an earlier dynamic new broom. Sixteen years ago, Vicente Fox, who broke the 71 hold on the presidency by the PRI (institutional revolutionary party - the Mexicans have a nice sense of contradictions) soon found his election promises difficult to fulfil.

Any Mexican administration trying to clean up is handicapped by the huge profitability of the illegal drugs trade, of course. And that profitability depends largely on the appetite from her North American neighbour. Until the US sort out their drug trouble, the Mexican government will struggle to clean up its administration.