MEXICO CITY - Only hours after Mexico's new president pledged tobring peace, prosperity and accountability to the nation, he madegood on one of his top promises, ordering soldiers to withdraw fromtroubled territory in the south. Helicopters pulled soldiers fromjungle outposts and army trucks rumbled back to base along windingmountain roads Friday night in the southern state of Chiapas, wherean Indian-rights rebellion has been simmering for six years.
The withdrawal was one of Vicente Fox's first orders as Mexico's62nd president. He took the oath of office Friday morning, thenbegan a three-day victory lap around the country with a rousingspeech at Mexico City's huge national auditorium.
He later revived a tradition not seen for more than a decade: atriumphant ride in a convertible through the city's main streets,where ebullient voters perched on balconies dumped clouds ofbrightly colored confetti on his head.
Shortly after sunset, tens of thousands thronged to the city'scentral plaza to watch fireworks and cheer the man who unseated aparty that had been in power since the start of the GreatDepression. Hundreds of thousands more were expected to gather atweekend rallies in Mexico state, Oaxaca, Guadalajara and thenorthern city of Monterrey.
Fox knows he owes a lot to those who helped him make history, andhe began to express his thanks the moment inauguration day began.
His first act - hours before receiving the red, green and whitepresidential sash from outgoing leader Ernesto Zedillo - was to slipinto the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe to thank Mexico'spatron saint.
He then stopped off to serve tamales and hot chocolate to streetkids in Tepito, a gritty, low-income barrio in Mexico Cityfrequented by drug dealers and prostitutes - and an area not often,if ever, frequented by his stiffer predecessors.
"He won not because of his party but because of the way he hasbehaved. He has embraced the people, opened his heart to them," said39-year-old Silvia de Jesus Maya, a Masahua Indian who said she hasfaith in Fox's pledge to help Mexico's indigenous people, themajority of whom live in poverty and on the margins of society.
Wearing an open-collared shirt, jeans and cowboy boots, Foxleaned close to the ear of a chatty homeless 17-year-old and at onepoint stood up on a plastic folding chair to wave to the people inthe crowd who couldn't see him. Moments before his departure, heslipped into a slum shack much as Superman would disappear into aphone booth, emerging minutes later with freshly slicked-back hairand the crisp suit he would require for his swearing-in at Congress.
"I am certain he is going to come through for us," said LeticiaMichelle, 40, one of hundreds of residents cheering him on from analleyway between tin-walled shacks and modest cement-block homes.
In his speech to the nation, Fox went point-by-point over amassive list of proposals he has introduced since his campaign -everything from eliminating corruption and achieving peace inChiapas to cleaning up the environment.
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