As Mexico's Congress flexes independent muscle, Fox feels squeeze.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

MEXICO CITY_When he was inaugurated a little over a year ago, President Vicente Fox acknowledged the growing strength of Mexico's Congress by borrowing a U.S. political axiom: "The president proposes and the Congress disposes."

To his dismay, Fox has since discovered how right he was.

Few Mexican presidents have come to office with such high expectations as Fox. He defeated a long-ruling party by promising reform and open democracy, but his agenda has been stymied. Unlike the rubber-stamp legislature previous Mexican presidents enjoyed in the era of one-party rule, Congress has emerged as a power to be reckoned with.

The development signals progress in Mexico's march toward democracy. But the principal result has been legislative gridlock, blocking the reform agenda of the president who claimed to personify the new, democratic Mexico.

"It is unprecedented. It's a complete change in terms of where the legislation is coming from and how that legislation succeeds," said Roderic Camp, a ...