Despite Perot's harangue about Mexico, in fact post-NAFTA the country has moved decided away from one-party politics. Rather than continuing the status quo, increased competition and opportunity allowed a significant transfer of power and wealth away from Mexico City and up to Monterrey and other points north. Rather than being a harbinger of things to come, Salinas was the last of his kind. His successor, Ernesto Zedillo essentially ended the hand-picked successor style of presidency by the PRI and re-launched modern Mexico.

Of course, other problems remain, particularly corruption and lawlessness, but Mexico today is a growing economy with a more stable currency and a more open and transparent government than it was fifteen years ago. I think NAFTA had a lot to do with that.