I hope this letter finds you well and in the company of Mrs. Claus and the elves up there at the North Pole. Here I am writing to you again, as has been my custom since I was a little girl. Sorry I skipped last year, but I had to write to Mother Nature instead because of those dreadful storms that caused so much havoc around the world. I think she heard my pleas, because she was a bit more merciful this year.

This time, more than giving you a wish list, I want to tell you how happy I am that my 9-year-old daughter still believes in you. You cannot imagine what a relief it is. It is so difficult, in this day and age, to get people to believe in anything or anyone. Although you can't really blame them; there are so many lies, so much pretense and deception. So much fraud and corruption. People are manipulated, misinformed and brainwashed every day. You just don't know who to trust anymore.

Just imagine, here we are being told that we are winning the war in Iraq, and we find out through a bipartisan commission named by the White House that our government's strategy is not working. It turns out that the situation is even worse than what we hear about in the media. The panel warned that the situation is deteriorating and that we might be on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe. It took President Bush a few days to believe there was a need to change the course of action, but he finally started listening to suggestions and opinions from people other than his dad's friends.

Isn't it amazing how the least- 
trustworthy individuals seem to be those in power? Recently Transparency International, an organization that fights corruption in the world, asked citizens of 62 countries if they had to pay bribes for basic services, and to whom. Can you believe that politicians were on top of the list of those perceived to be most corrupt? Next on the list were police officers. In our hemisphere, Mexico tied with Bolivia as the most corrupt countries.

Speaking of Mexico, did you see that spectacle during the presidential swearing-in ceremony a couple of weeks ago? That was embarrassing. Legislators throwing punches trying to prevent Felipe Calderon from taking the oath of office in Congress. You can't really justify that kind of wild behavior coming from adults -- particularly elected officials -- but that's what happens when there is a lack of trust in the electoral process. There are a good number of Mexicans who just don't believe that Calderon won that election. They wanted a full recount, and they got only a partial one. It's ironic because all the parties approved the new electoral rules, and then they stopped believing in them when they didn't benefit their political goals. 

Lack of trust in politicians has been big this past year in Latin America. Several countries ended up electing populist candidates because they just don't believe in the traditional political parties. Bolivians picked indigenous labor leader Evo Morales, and Ecuadorians went for left-leaning economist Rafael Correa. Venezuelans stuck with Hugo Chavez because they didn't believe opposition candidate Manuel Rosales would take care of the poor. On the other hand, in Nicaragua voters decided to give Daniel Ortega a second chance. It seems they didn't believe warnings that Ortega would turn back the clock and return them to the chaos of the Sandinista days.

I could go on and on, but I'll spare you. I'm sure you get the picture. The important thing is that there is still some innocence in the world. There are still those, like my daughter, who think you can go around the world in a matter of hours and bring joy to those who believe. So go ahead and work your magic. After all, you know who's been naughty and who's been nice. Don't you?

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(Maria Elena Salinas is the author of “I AM MY FATHER'S DAUGHTER: LIVING A LIFE WITHOUT SECRETS.” Reach her at www 
.mariaesalinas.com)

© 2006 by Maria Elena Salinas

Distributed by King Features Syndicate