Mexico's Fox ends one-party rule

Vicente Fox has promised a break with the past

Mexico's new President, Vicente Fox, has taken the presidential oath to start his six-year term in office.

I will govern with no personality cult and without the assumption that the country is my fiefdom

Vicente Fox

In doing so, he has ended the 71-year rule of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

Mr Fox took the oath of office and then received the presidential sash at a ceremony in Congress.

In his inauguration speech he promised a break with the past.

While previous presidents had imposed a monologue, governing in the future was about dialogue, he said.

"My boots are firmly planted on the ground, I look reality in the face and never turn my back on it," he added.

"I will govern with no personality cult and without the assumption that the country is my fiefdom."

Peace accord

Mr Fox gave hope to the country's indigenous population and the war-torn southern state of Chiapas.

Mr Fox is seeking a rapprochement with the Zapatista rebels

"There will never again be a Mexico without you," he said in his speech.

"In Mexico and in Chiapas there will be a new dawn."

He promised to send a four-year-old peace accord with the Zapatista Indian rebels to the Congress for approval.

The plan allows for greater autonomy for indigenous communities and recognition of their languages, customs and traditions.

The rebels have been active in the forests of Chiapas since a 1994 rebellion against what they perceive as injustice and poverty perpetuated by the PRI in the state.

Prayers

Mr Fox began his day with an unprecedented gesture - prayers in a church for Mexico's patron saint, the Virgin of Guadaloupe.

Mexicans are getting ready for the party

Mexican presidents have shunned displays of religious fervour since an 18th Century campaign against the dominance of the Catholic Church.

Thousands of Mexicans lined the streets of the capital, Mexico City, as he came out, greeting him with chants of "Viva Vicente".

His next port of call was the notorious Tepito slum neighbourhood, where he chatted to street children over an open-air breakfast.

The BBC's Mexico correspondent says that for Mexico, at least, this inauguration also marks a turning-point in the nation's history.

It marks the end of what amounted to one-party rule by the PRI - the fall of the Cactus Curtain, according to one wag.

Businessman

Mr Fox is the antithesis of past Mexican heads of state.

He is a businessman by background, not a politician, and his stated aim is to become the chief executive of Mexico Incorporated.

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Instead of drawing on political cronies to fill the cabinet, he has appointed academics and other businessmen to most posts, insisting that he will apply sound business principles to the job.

All that has raised hopes of a bright new future for Mexico - hopes that some analysts say are too high.

Political commentator Sergio Sarmiento has warned that the nation is almost certain to be disappointed when it becomes clear that corruption, inefficiency and poverty are too deeply engrained to wipe out overnight.

But few people seem too worried about that now. Most Mexicans are simply getting ready for the party.