Mrs. Navarro, we'd like you to tell us what tourist projects the Mexican government is working on right now.

For the first time ever this year, we're going to work on a coordinated campaign, not only with the tourist sector but also with other Mexican sectors as well linked to overseas operations, to sell the Mexican destination, all the good stuff we have to offer. Of course, tourism is surely going to be one of the sectors chipping in the most in this respect. Mexico is a well-known and highly ranked place as a sun-and-beach destination. We've got the breathtaking beauty of our coastlines from the gorgeous Caribbean, the entire and singular Pacific shore all the way to the Sea of Cortes featuring those contrasting views of deserts and deep-blue sea, let alone a wonderful and exuberant natural beauty. Diversification is what we're looking for right now, to let people know Mexico is one of the few countries in the world that has an important blend of cultures to offer other than just sun-and-beach options. And when we say culture we don't mean traditions, our archeological sites, nor our colonial cities, but all our musical richness, our colorfulness, our handicrafts, folklore, cuisine and everything else that makes a country so unique. That's what we'll be zeroing in on: diversification and allow visitors to enjoy both the natural beauties and the cultural heritage the country has been developing.

How are you beefing up security in the Federal District of Mexico and in the roads strategically spanning the nation's different tourist places?

This was something quite worrisome for us since the very beginning that took part of our time. In the case of the Federal Government, president Vicente Fox has made security one of his top priorities. We're working on a second phase right now through the signing of agreements with state authorities –a precise case in point is Mexico City- to join efforts and wipe out this problem you're talking about. But what we need to do is put all this in perspective. I always say there are realities and perceptions. As far as realities are concerned, we're working hard in this direction. We've put together the National Tourism Security Commission in our country, made up of over fifteen Federal Government entities, to lead efforts in that same direction in issues ranging from personnel training to more complex matters such as protection and security for visitors and their healthiness. For example, this commission is made up of the Department of Health, the Department of Economy, the General Attorney Office for Consumer Protection, National Defense, the Navy… in a word, all those institutions linked to the topic. But on the other hand, if we look at the number –fortunately or unfortunately- they're neither better nor worse than in any other country. However, that image still in the making has been doing us harm.

As far as airlines are concerned, they stand for a fundamental problem in the number of visits to Mexico; they're expensive, scarce and sometimes hard to get. Are you planning to do something about it?

Yes, the government sent Congress last year the proposal to sell the controller of Mexico's two largest airlines -Aeromexico and Mexicana- aimed precisely at achieving better competitiveness. The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks added insult to injury, but there's no doubt in my mind we're moving ahead in that direction, seeking better competitiveness and higher quality, more services and choices for tourists, because, you know, it's sad to know that we're the country with the world's second-largest airport and seaport network, and yet we don't have that many connections or we don't have enough availability of aircraft and flights, or just because airfares are too high.

There are also legal things that get in the way of airlines for the use of certain airports or air spaces. These are the kind of problems we need to go ironing out. Our aeronautical policy has to improve in order to move toward better competitiveness.

As to cruise liners, you've also enhanced that particular fields. Will you keep up that work?

We're the number-one country in the world as far as incoming cruises are concerned. In very general terms and more exactly in the case of Cozumel, we were one of the least affected places aboveground last year in terms of tourist flow. We merely lost 4% of our international tourist flow, but we grew in hard-currency benefits. That means we were able to lure tourists with deeper pockets. As far as cruises are concerned, to the best of my recollection, we grew in the neighborhood of 30% and we're expecting the docking of a larger number of liners this year, especially in Acapulco, which by the way is becoming one major port of call for cruise liners. I've just been to Cozumel a couple of months ago and authorities there briefed me on concrete plans to increase the number of leisure vessels.

Well, now as a woman and in the midst of this beautiful philosophy of sometimes pitting women against men, as well as their hardworking, we'd like to ask you how you got involved in the world of tourism, whether it was an inclination or something that happened to you randomly…

I don't believe in things happening randomly. I think you pave your own way in life, you climb the steps toward what you want to do. I'd never ever worked in the public service, nor in tourism. I've spent almost all of my life working for mass-consuming companies, international enterprises for some 26 years. Finally, I landed as president of a world-class company –Jafra Cosmetics, a former affiliate of Gillette Co. I became the highest-ranking woman in that organization worldwide. That's why I say there's no such thing as random happenings in life.

When president Fox decided to put together a completely different cabinet –let me put it this way: apolitical as compared to traditional Mexican governments in the past- he started looking for profiles to fit his different departments. It's true I didn't have any experience in the tourist sector, but my years of experience working for world-class enterprises have given me the necessary insight to handle the dynamics of international trade. He (Mr. Fox) believes in tourism as an economic key player for being a market where products and services are marketed, so to speak, where investment is required. And that's been my profile all of my life, that's been my job. And that's how I got here.

Leticia, how can you juggle your hats as a woman in today's world, in the 21st century, not only as a professional, but also from a familiar and personal standpoint? How can you pull all this off successfully?

I've got a philosophy of my own. I believe men are the breadwinners of any household. They know they'll have to work all of their lives, so consequently men think in terms of professional careers. Unfortunately for women, that was not the case a few years ago. Women used to work before getting married or before having children, and they continued to work after their children had grown up. So, we used to just work, not have careers. I guess when any woman has professional inclinations since an early stage of her life, she must do a couple of things: first, recognize that because of that female vision of hers –I say as women because gentlemen, husbands I mean, will continue to do their own- she needs to create a certain infrastructure at home to let things go smoothly while she spends weeks traveling around. I think of a job from 7:00am when I take a shower, to 10:30pm when I get back home. Then, I've got no time to think whether my daughter came back from school safe and sound, whether she ate, whether the plumber dropped by to repair the broken-down fixture. You can't be involved in that kind of stuff. You need to organize your time properly to handle things rights. Otherwise, it'll never work.

Do you have any special anecdote, a funny or sad story you'd like to share with us, something you took pains in doing to keep up that status as a woman in the face of a gentleman, as you say, in your workplace? Anything that denotes the absence of that kind of equality you ought to fight for?

I feel tremendously lucky in that particular sense. I've never ever felt myself discriminated against. To begin with, I've got four brothers and I'm their only sister. I've always been involved in a gentlemen's world. That also happened to me when I first got a job. That's never been new to me and I've always known how to get around it. That's a world you get used to on time as you accommodate your femaleness in it. I remember the 1970s, when women had to look very macho, tough and strong to be taken seriously and to be heard. I think reality was being skewered at the time. I always think in terms of human beings, not in terms of men and women. I've chanced upon both men and women without the commitment or the necessary skills to go on. I don't believe this has anything to do with a matter of gender, but rather with the commitment you have to bring things off.