On the reduced flow of migration to the United States and its impact.

I hope it changes the perception there is about us, because as you have published, as studies by Princeton and other universities have demonstrated, the net migration rate has been reduced not only to its lowest level, but nearly to zero. And I admit, it’s not only because of the opportunities that we’ve generated, but perhaps also as a result of migration policy, of the economic crisis, of fear of organized crime, but also because of the hospitals, the more than 1,000 hospitals and clinics we’ve created, the 800,000 jobs that we’re generating annually, the universities we’ve built that I already mentioned, nearly 100 new ones, and as you write in that very good article, young adults now have opportunities they didn’t have before. I hope this changes the prejudice which nearly borders on fanaticism, that Mexicans are harming the United States economy or its society. Not even before, when migration was higher.

On the closing wage gap between Mexico and China.

I don’t think that the wage differential, the reduction in the wage differential between China and Mexico, is necessarily damaging. It has also signified a decrease in China’s competitiveness in Mexico’s favor. Many companies which left to China are now trying to establish themselves in Mexico, and it’s not to build up, because salaries in China, in spite of the decrease in the wage differential, are still substantially lower. I would say in some cases, even inhumane. Salaries in Mexico are still higher, however, be it because of elevated transportation costs as a result of the price of fuel, or be it, also, because of the rise in real competitiveness in Mexico. Today, it is much more profitable to invest in Mexico, and that is our alternative for the future.

On whether he will be remembered for the surging violence in Mexico.

It’s possible some will remember me for that or will want me to be remembered for that. But if Mexico triumphs as I am sure it will, if Mexico has new institutions in the future, if Mexico subdues the criminals, if Mexico reconstructs its social fabric there will also be those that remember me as the president who dared to take on the criminals and indicate the long path of institutional reconstruction of the country.

On the prospect that the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which dominated Mexico for decades, might return to power and fall into a corrupt relationship with organized crime.

It depends on who it is. There are many in the PRI who agree with the policy I have, at least they say so in secret, while publicly they may say something else. There are many in the PRI who think the deals of the past would work now. I don’t see what deal could be done, but that is the mentality many of them have. If that opinion prevails it would worry me.