Free Collapse of Dignity by Napoleon Gomez Page B

strategy of companies and the government was based on the absurd and unreasonable exploitation of labor and natural and financial resources that prevented these businessmen from seeing beyond immediate profits and interests.
    If our social programs in education, training, health, housing, and life insurance were obstructing the companies’ plans, I added, then I asked him to tell me what they wanted or what they were looking for to satisfy their ambition. I warned him that such wage-control policies were generally linked to abuse and that sooner or later these transform into pressures and conflicts that lead to social crises. I said that the government of Mexico should become allied with democratic, accountable, and modern unions to transform the entire society. I said that we were open to dialogue based on respect, justice, and equity.
    Finally he asked if I had recently met with the businessmen Larrea, Bailleres, or Villarreal Guajardo, and I said no. Then he told me, “Look out for them because they have been meeting and have communicated to President Fox their anger and concern.” I immediately questioned Fox’s response to those negative comments from this group.
    Abascal said, “You know that the president is very sympathetic and deferential because they have always supported him and his government, too.”
    â€œI suppose,” I replied, “but in this case they are wrong and are distorting reality, because what they want to avoid is improving the welfare of workers and their families, preferring instead to keep the boot on the workers’ neck and perpetuate the highest level of exploitation.
    â€œYou in the PAN government always talk about the ‘common good’ and the social equality that we should all have, but when it comes to the interests of workers, that concept seems to disappear,” I said. I finally reminded Abascal that the Catholic church recognizes the value of work and the respect for those who provide labor, and that suchvalue and respect must exist. Such a value is well above wealth, which is nothing more than an accumulation of material goods. I ended by telling him that it took more than crossing oneself every day, going to Mass and Communion every Sunday, then appearing at the office on Monday with the Bible and a rosary in the left hand to make a person righteous, especially if in his right hand he carried a stick to beat the working people, to suppress their fundamental rights and their chance for a better life.
    We said good-bye but not before he insisted to me, “Search for them, meet with them, and find solutions before things get complicated.” And in a tone of warning he added, “I know why I am telling you this.” Then he left.
    Of course I knew that as secretary of the interior he must be aware of all political issues in the country, since in Mexico this position is nearly equal in power to a vice president. Abascal at least made, at that time, a kind gesture to prevent a larger conflict that he saw coming.

THREE
T OMA DE NOTA
    Man is the process of his actions.
    â€” BENEDETTO CROCE
    When President Fox removed Carlos María Abascal from the position of labor secretary and appointed him secretary of the interior, I was gravely concerned by the man Fox chose to take his place. Having dealt with Abascal before, I was familiar with his style and knew how to handle him, but that was not the case with Francisco Javier Salazar, whom Fox moved up from undersecretary of labor to take Abascal’s place.
    I’d met Salazar, a former chemical engineer, in Abascal’s office during negotiations regarding the assets Grupo México owed the union, and he hadn’t impressed me. He was a short, stout, shifty character from the conservative state of San Luis Potosí, and he rarely looked anyone in the eye—not someone who inspired confidence or trust. In our meetings, he acted like it was his job to defend the interests of